N.B. Spellings (if correct) are in UK English. All the characters in this story are fictitious, any similarity to persons living or dead is purely coincidental. The author neither condones or endorses any of the activities detailed in this story, which could well be illegal in certain jurisdictions. I'm adding (for legal reasons) that apparently if you're under-age you mustn't read this, so if that's the case go away and grow up.

Author's Note.

This tranche brings my original tale to a conclusion – but it isn't necessarily the end.

This is a 'Universe' in which I have additional tales, those written on the same premiss but not all may contain the same characters, or they might be mentioned in passing.

If you haven't read it as yet look out for 'The Cab Driver' – A very short story from the “Model is Discovered Universe” which is there just to raise a smile, it's barely a page long.

In the same “Model is Discovered Universe” there is an unfinished work about a father who becomes his daughter's chaperone and more! I really must get back to that some time soon, titled - 'A model Daughter'

A further story in the same Universe is 'Where there's a market'' which has never been out there before because the main story was incomplete. A sort of dark adventure story which follows how the former chief of computer security for the Studio, and a model who we've not met previously wish to seek revenge on the perpetrators of the Studio's sad demise.

Of course you might not want to read this additional story, if you do you can use my direct email address to avoid using-up the set limit of 'allocated replies' that Chris has available on this host system. (sq.writer@protonmail.com .)

As always this is a free service, my only payment is a comment from you, you can even look back and give your opinion on former chapters. Us authors like to hear from you, it's even helpful when you tell us about those stories which you didn't like – and why.

Hey NORBERT drop me a line my direct email is above, same goes for all the readers from the old Loliwood days. I owe you all a big apology, but with the site collapse, and then issues in real-life I left the scene for several years, I'm back and I want to hear from all those old stalwarts that gave a novice writer the encouragement to continue.

Okay here are chapters 76-81 plus the Epilogue

After an unfortunate and unforeseen seven year hiatus the tale at last continues.....

Chapter 76

Anna looked down as she slid back and forth on the hard fleshy toy, the livid purple tip emerging then disappearing below her body riding in the saddle as she did with Silver, though his saddle didn't have such a ridge running down the centre. She moved trying out different angles to get the right pressure on her clit, thinking if she slid too far forwards Romko would think all his New Years gifts had come early.

She wasn't ready for that yet, and certainly not with Romko, he was nice enough, but he wasn't special to her, or to Eve really for that matter, she wouldn't be going all the way with a boy unless it was magic, like with Marta and Karl, though his shocked exclamation had been funny as she'd first slid about on his dick. Eve had to keep giving him reminders what to do, as two pussys at once almost stopped his brain from working altogether.

Though they'd given him a couple of hours recovery time, when he came for the fourth time that day it was just a few weak watery spurts across his stomach, hardly even reaching his chest, as talking with Eve beforehand she'd wondered if he would spurt it across her back. With Anna sitting on it, and Romko almost groaning in pain his latest offering didn't extend that far.

Anna climbed off checking to see if any had splashed on her, then she waited until Eve had been licked to her satisfaction. When her friend had cum, they both sat looking at the exhausted boy lying on the bed, glad that they could both cum lots more times than boys.

Romko was happy but shattered, feeling he could just lay there and fall asleep, though if his aunt or uncle were to catch him sleeping naked on Eve's bed they would probably kill him for messing about with his 'innocent' little cousin.

They could see him tense up again as they began to whisper once more about the rest of their plans before they had to send him back home. Eve produced a spare toothbrush, as her daft cousin hadn't figured out he probably had pussy breath from all their activities that day, though he enjoyed one last tour of each girls body as their shower slave, hardly complaining at all that he also had to wear a stupid shower cap, as none of them wanted to have wet hair they couldn't explain if they had an unexpected caller.

They all dried themselves to save time, as Anna noted Romko's cock had recovered during their time in the bathroom, though it didn't get fully hard, and it looked quite an angry red colour, grinning at the thought he could hardly complain of blue balls for the rest of the week. When they'd all dressed, she helped Eve tidy the bathroom, then they got on with their final item on their check list for the day, a homework project for Romko.

When the girls said they were to go back downstairs for some more play-acting he didn't argue with them, as maybe he'd pick up some more useful stuff. Having played some of their games like this before he just saved himself from putting his foot in it. His 'talking with girls practice' had some trick questions as Eve sat there and asked what he had done with Anna. He was just about to say the wrong thing then catching on said how he'd played board games with his cousin's best friend a couple of times, earning himself a kiss.

Anna was going to play the part of a fictional girl from his own local district, as they began to talk, she started to ask more personal questions. With a little coaching he learned how to answer the questions that put him in a good light as in not being inexperienced, while at the same time not boasting or giving away anything about any girls he may have been out with, so as to show his discretion.

Next it was Eve again, this time listing various girls who lived near him asking which ones he would most likely try to chat up over the summer. At each suggestion she shot him down, saying the first girl was too pretty, so out of his league, then finding reasons why he shouldn't try to date the other girls on his list. He was confused why she'd ask, then go and knock him back, only to come up with the names of two quite plain girls.

“You're only a guy so you won't understand,” Eve told him, “the first one, and maybe the second won't last, but if you treat those girls nicely like we've taught you, they'll tell their friends, so by the end of the summer word will spread. By then the girls that you do want to date will hear that you listen when a girl says No, and that you're a thoughtful guy.

If they feel safe then they might let you get further than a boy they don't trust as much.”

Anna chipped in saying not to expect to have sex with any of the girls, or he could have a very disappointing summer, but if he was patient and not behave like an octopus, then it might be possible to get the odd hand-job, and if he could persuade a girl to let his tongue go south she would probably be impressed enough to return the favour.

Walking back to the Metro station he actually felt a bit tender, thinking it was a pity he couldn't see the girls more often, and spread out the action rather than cum four times in the one day. The stuff they knew was amazing, he would never have guessed girls that young could be so experienced, he would never have thought of hanging out with the girls that Eve had named either. They weren't ugly; plain or ordinary would be more like it, girls who were just in the background, which was why Eve said to make friends with them first.

When they explained it, it was so obvious, the lookers got asked out all the time. He was to pick a plain girl, just say Hi, then chat with her and her friends when they were hanging around, but only a bit at a time, not to rush in. Make contact, slowly make friends, see if she was willing to become a closer friend, don't push too hard, and try to part as friends, he was not to move on to a new girl the very next day. They thought given a week some local girl might even approach him, providing he followed their fashion advice.

Sitting on the train Romko wondered if he had time to visit the barbers before supper!

Later as he was nearly home he saw some girls he knew from school, they commented on his new haircut, so he paused for a while saying how a friend of his said it was about time he changed his image, so he'd taken her advice. He was sure there was some interplay between the girls that he'd missed, just as Eve and Anna could look at one another and do this girl thing, as if a whole conversation had been spoken in code.

Eve and Anna talking over their day's adventure, only stopped when her mum and brother returned, by which time they'd done a batch of laundry, already having done some of the towels so they didn't all turn up in the wash at once. Eve asked after both her cousins, only to 'find out' that Romko had been out with school friends, though Kiel was in so Victor had somebody to play with while her mum and aunt were talking. Magda in jest asked if Eve was sweet on her older cousin, which caused the girls to laugh, both saying how lame he was, having such poor dress sense, though they did admit he wasn't too bad at board games, with Eve saying he also had a few good CD's, as listening to music had been her excuse when they'd been up in his room previously.

Natalia in her role as 'Olya the Magician' had been practising her act on a small stage set in studio eight, perfecting her tricks while at the same time losing her costume bit by bit, as Marta gave advice regarding the video production. Though the act was very good they could both see it lacked something, Natalia joking the magic always went down better with an audience reaction, but her audience would be in front of distant computer screens.

Smiling Marta came up with a suggestion, and Natalia thought it was worth a try for the next dry run, as after lunch she was booked for the real thing with Oksana on camera to capture her magic act. Marta gathered up some girls who were hanging about the canteen with time on their hands before they were due to be anywhere, with an invitation to a magic show. A few rolls of 'grass' were laid out for the spectators to sit on while Olya the Magician did her act. The feedback in terms of clapping and applause improved the show, making up for what had been lacking previously.

With Olya taking her final bow all the girls watching said she had been great, even those who didn't yet understand any English, as the show worked on two levels. Later when the star was in full make-up Marta went to gather a second audience where it was discussed what would happen during the video shoot, with Oksana suggesting having a second fixed camera on the audience so she could cut and edit their reactions. Marta explained that they wouldn't get a percentage for their part, but it would give them a little exposure that might cause their members to look for them on the website, so they were happy with that.

While the show was running Marta took the publicity stills, making sure she also captured the two rows of girls watching the show, thinking they could overprint the girls names on one of those shots as part of the deal for them taking part. The upshot of having a group of models watching a video shoot was that those that hadn't done one of their own, now saw how simple it was, therefore wanted to get involved, either wanting to get English lessons or if having that part solved, wanting to get scripts.

Later back in her office Marta wrote some blurb she thought would go well on the 'What's New' page for when Olya's video was launched.

“When Olya came to make her first video, lots of her Studio friends wanted to sit in and watch as she wowed them with her conjuring act. We're sure you'll agree this young lady has her own special brand of magic.”

Marta knew it was a bit cheesy, but that was how she saw most advertisers copy-writing so it fit in with the fun way the Studio promoted their girls. Noting the time she expected Karl would be doing the rounds shortly with drinks for the department. She'd often joked with him it was a good job breathing was automatic or the geeks might forget that too. Although it was crazy central down in the studios with girls lined up from early till late, she felt sure Oksana would be staying up into the small hours to edit and launch the video they had shot that afternoon, as it had many novel aspects, and they were all keen to see how their members reacted to something different.

Karl showed up with more than just her tea and biscuits, he also came with news that the deal had been signed for the building they had settled on for their 1st GRINS project.

Marta liked how that sounded, that is it being the beginning of a whole host of projects that would benefit both her own family, plus a good number of their friends as well.

It had been an agonising decision as to finding the right project in the right area, but they had settled on an unusual scheme that involved some novel financing. An apartment block of eight stories, with four one or two bedroom units per floor. Floors one to seven would get a quality makeover, but on the top floor they would instead convert the four units into two top of the range penthouse flats of double the size. As soon as the first 'ordinary unit' was complete it would act as show home to attract tenants, then they could begin leasing out the finished units as work continued on the remaining floors.

As the majority of the local market was in rentals they would have a revenue stream from fairly early on in the project that would initially help with the ongoing costs, then when it came to the penthouse units, they would offer them for a long term lease payment up front, with a small ongoing ground rental. The people who could afford the top floor units would be prepared to fork out the money for a long term agreement to secure the quality apartments Igor knew they could provide, which would offset many of their other costs.

They didn't have exact figures but they expected within three years they each would have made back their original investment, then after that it would be a pure revenue stream less the cost of administration charges and maintenance. Having risked a little venture capital, they would have an ongoing return far into the future which beat any returns from other investment opportunities they would have less control over.

The very few tenants that were left, were short term and would leave given a few more weeks. The whole block looked very run down, again that was mostly cosmetic, which was probably why there were presently so few residents.

It had been on the market for a while with no takers, as few companies had either the cash or the will to complete refurbishments that would again make it attractive, and that same dilemma faced the current owner as he now didn't have the revenue for the required upgrades to make that viable. They were virtually buying it at a knock-down price, but the clincher on the deal was an agreement they could buy the sister block on the next plot at the same price if they came up with the money within the next eighteen months.

Long term agreements on the very desirable penthouse units were the key to this deal, in that it was a rare opportunity, and the next best thing to owning a property outright, also no banks or brokers would be getting a slice of the action. Their legal guy would take on one staff member exclusively to administer the leasing scheme, and for distributing the investors payments from the project. Everyone would put in their lump sum, then before the summer was over would begin to see a steadily growing return as the units filled up.

They would be marketed towards middle managers and aspiring young entrepreneurs on the website Karl would build, with help from Marta and a few others doing the advertising copy to promote the project. Being involved in new types of bold commercial ventures gave them a closer understanding of the enterprising western mindset, which had been slower to take hold in a country that had been so hidebound by centralised State control.

Igor had been round to the big decorating wholesale company managed by his friend Yuri, telling him the news that the deal had been signed that morning. With all the business the two had done, both through the house project, via Igor's employer's, and from the IMC company Igor ran from a back seat, Yuri was well in favour with his own regional bosses.

The GRINS project would only mean additional business, with a new idea of recalling any short date quality paint products from outlying branches to clear their shelves of stock that they'd been unable to sell. Again Yuri would be the hero, plus the variety of colours would allow their scheme to to look bolder and more interesting to their prospective tenants.

As Yuri was one of the investors on behalf of his daughter, he was as keen as Igor to find additional savings that could be made on their costs. He'd heard across the trade counter of several recent bankruptcies that might give them the chance to pick up equipment or building materials at knock down prices. This caused Igor to call Karl to see if he could find details online about any auctions that they could benefit from attending, as only the larger modern firms who used the internet were likely to have the funds to place bids.

As Karl told Marta about the various auctions, he saw she had that look she got when hatching a devious plan. She and her family had both the most to gain or lose from this project, as they held both an investment share, and IMC were contracted to do the work.

Shaking his head Karl went off to do his girlfriend's bidding.

A week later Igor and Melenki turned up at three auctions pleased to see they were so poorly attended, allowing them to spend even less than they had anticipated on the lots they wanted, which meant they came away with far more stock and plant than they'd expected. At each venue men in suits were angry when they found they'd arrived one day too late, as somehow the dates shown on the websites had inexplicably been wrong!

The second weekend of June meant the Studio had been running at full pelt for just over two weeks, but more importantly in the sister's household was the official announcement that Ella was two months pregnant. The boys weren't told yet, but Anna, Olga and Gramps heard the news for the first time, and that Igor intended to buy their house so they could add a nursery for the baby. Later Anna asked how long Marta had known, as they sat and talked about having a new baby in the house. She didn't berate Marta for not telling her as it wasn't her news to spread, besides Anna knew about the uncertainties that came with the first weeks or months of any pregnancy.

Igor had taken advice from several people including his legal eagle who'd handled the house auction, and did all the official paperwork for IMC builders, but it seemed they were unable to find an angle in regard to his own house purchase. Thanks to Karl he knew a lot about the man, the fact he'd bought and sold properties recently, and that he owned more than twenty houses that he leased out, which was the lead he wanted to take when he spoke with the man.

It had been simple to set up a face to face meeting, and Igor felt confident dealing with the man, stating he'd wanted to see him regarding two issues. The first as to whether he would want to employ a professional company (IMC Builders) to oversee the maintenance of his stock of properties, and secondly if he was prepared to sell the house that Igor and his family currently leased. The upshot was Igor came away a happy man, as the property owner found it a bugbear finding the various tradespeople to effect all the minor repairs that kept cropping up, so he liked the idea of placing it all in somebody else's hands, also freeing up capitol would allow him to look for another good property deal.

They shook hands then it was just a matter of his people squaring the paperwork with Igor's people. Now Igor just needed to await confirmation from his legal guy for work to start on the house. IMC had a very busy summer ahead of them, and as they all knew of the tremendous impending workload, troops were soon gathered in from near and far to throw manpower at each of the schemes in hand.

Igor sat down to review their household finances, the girls between them were coining it in with Anna's website earnings as a model, then there was her hand in writing the video scripts for other models for which she got her tiny slice, but it was one hell of a lot of tiny slices. Anna also did the TTMF thing for which she got well paid, probably enough to own several horses, though he wouldn't suggest that! Marta's own earnings were staggering as she had slices of so many pies he had given up trying to keep score.

His earnings from IMC were growing month on month, and that was only set to rise, then there was his job with the maintenance company which was now starting to look like pocket money in the same way that Ella looked on her occasional baking jobs. The house investment had served them well, buying the house they lived in wouldn't be a problem, nor would building the extension, so the speed and turnover of the GRINS scheme would determine how quickly the next scheme took off, as enough people wanted to participate.

It would convert a static lump sum of capitol into a long term ongoing weekly payment that would exceed the investment return from having their cash anywhere else, though from a family point of view it would be a matter of how quickly their capital built up again so as to have the stake for a second GRINS investment.

The day after the purchase of the block Melenki had hung about in the local government administration offices until he spied a certain officer who'd been in receipt of a nice new kitchen. The kindly official helped to get all the various permits and permissions briskly filed or passed by the relevant people for a few modest considerations in order that work could begin straight away. Some of the labourers from out of town were installed in two of the ground floor flats to provide them with accommodation, plus to ensure their work-site had a manned security presence 24/7.

Of the thirty-two flats only six now remained occupied by original tenants who'd already been given notice to move, though Igor didn't want to be heavy about it, providing they were actively looking for an alternative place to live. Various items of furniture and other stuff had been left by previous people who'd moved out, and the labourers were directed as to what was to be recycled to various charities, and what was really junk. A couple of women from the Squat café came over each day to do on site catering to cut down on the men having to seek out the nearest shopping area, and it would be a free perk of the job.

On the top floor most of the non load-bearing walls were removed, creating many cubic metres of debris that had to be loaded into bins and taken down in the lift, where it was later carted off late at night. The following morning a property agent who'd complained to the authorities some time ago about a change of use at the Squat, opened up his office to find it stacked almost to the ceiling by rubble. Those at the Squat respected Igor because he was a working guy just like them, he looked out for their welfare, and although he'd done well for himself he wasn't averse to rolling up his sleeves and joining in – like when it came to shifting tons of rubble!

That property agent had almost been responsible for snuffing out their fledgling building company, though more than that, it was the thought of all those people becoming once again homeless and jobless that stuck in Igor's craw. He didn't take kindly to people who upset his family or friends, he was loyal to his friends. He would normally be loathe to pick on the working man like himself, but when it came to the wealthy or to large faceless conglomerates he wasn't averse to payback or some dirty tricks to even the playing field.

The veritable army of labourers did all the donkey work, which allowed the skilled men on the site to get on with what they did best, always having materials and muscle on hand to help speed up their tasks. The addition of nicer light fittings, more power outlets, with TV and phone sockets to the main rooms, didn't add much to the cost, but it did differentiate their project from many places that provided only the basic minimum of everything.

Each apartment having individual kitchen and bathroom fittings and tiling owed more to the odd batches of materials they'd been able to source at low prices rather than any set ideas regarding what was in vogue. Several of Anna's friends who were project investors put together design schemes based on what they'd seen in foreign magazines using the paints and materials they had available. They loved being involved in their own investment project, besides as they did less photo shoots during the summer, it gave them something to do that was both different, interesting, and educational.

With a week of June remaining two units that had been fast tracked were available for viewing. Marta with Karl's help had seeded various local web forums in the city where the young urban business types met to chat. Almost any Ukrainian web-page on style, design, or property featured links to an IMC website with pictures of work they'd done, from the Trompe l'oeil of their first house project, to the kitchen in John's apartment, plus several other examples, even if they were upgrades rather than full building schemes. The main highlight was focusing on the two completed apartments, with photos of small details in the units that were still undergoing refurbishment. Typically Marta had a nice line in patter.

“Forget grey – move up to stylish living. For the urban professional looking to find smart modern accommodation, IMC developments aim to provide fashionable living spaces with a level of sophistication not often available in today's market. Book for an early viewing of the apartments on their latest project to secure your chance to obtain one of the limited number of units that will be released this year. A quick decisive move on your part could ensure you have the opportunity to select a personalised colour scheme with finish details to match your own sense of style.”

It was written to pander to their prospective clients own sense of vanity and self-worth, that they could be on the cutting edge of the young elite trend setters in Kiev.

The blurb she was working on for when the penthouse units became available was even more striking, pinching whole blocks of text from American realtor's websites. What made the IMC site stand out was it's understated simple design that was easy to navigate, and the fact that on the opening page you could click on any of three flags to view the site in either Ukrainian, Russian, or English which lent it a good deal of sophistication. The muted background colours made the photographs stand out in even more stark contrast.

Anna and Marta had all the investors regularly visit their own website in order to push it up the web rankings on any one of several criteria, so people searching for a place to live naturally found their website due to it's supposed popularity. Each person registering their interest via e-mail was sent a politely worded reply that they would get a priority viewing date as soon as a show apartment was ready for presentation.

The Friday prior to the fourth weekend of June resulted in one clunker parked near the apartment block being 'stolen' and parked in another part of the city, and other cars on the street receiving a free car wash care of the MMC. Those same lads also picked litter, and then swept the pavements to provide some scene setting for the 'lucky' selected few who had been invited for an exclusive viewing on the Saturday or Sunday.

Their selection criteria had everything to do with what Karl had been able to learn from their e-mail addresses. Just that they had access to e-mail said something about their net worth and employment status, but Karl was more thorough than that, providing Igor with current home addresses and the line of work each person was involved with, so he knew a little about each invited visitor. Expecting most people would come via the nearest Metro station they would pass by a street dumpster not twenty metres from the development, and even that had been dressed with empty shopping bags from the more exclusive stores where the Studio girls bought their clothes.

Marta was shameless in her efforts to promote sales with some of the older models seen walking about the area looking smartly dressed, taking it in turns to then go inside serving coffees in the kitchen of one of the two show apartments. Her reasoning was that if the guys visiting had less blood flowing through their brains they might be more inclined to sign on the dotted line. She'd even had a smart lapel badge made for her father so people could see they were dealing with the managing director of IMC rather than some lowly salesman, and further more he actually knew who they were!

An open laptop had the layouts and apartment numbers for each floor, pre-seeded with the words 'Lease Confirmed' already written large on several apartments, though they were soon joined with real agreements, so the fake wording began to disappear between visitors in order to actually find real tenants for those empty units. They were able to view a one and a two bedroom apartment in different colour schemes with displays of tiles or marble samples for both the kitchen and the bathroom.

After the first few closures Igor realised they hadn't set the costs too high as he'd thought, in fact those who wanted the more up-scale materials didn't bicker about the increase in their deposit or their monthly charges. A good many even asked about the penthouse apartments, though Igor explained they would be let on a different basis, with those two tenants paying for a longer term agreement up front due to the exclusivity, and the more bespoke range of finishes throughout. Those signing on for the regular units seemed to be happy that by association they would gain kudos by living in the same building as such high flyers who could fork out the probable enormous cost of a penthouse.

For the standard apartments the biggest decision other than colours was whether they wanted to opt for a furnished or unfurnished unit, and how that would affect their costs. Each unit had it's own page on the spreadsheet, fill in the boxes, mark the colours and finishes for each room, click a few buttons and the final costs were revealed, Igor could hardly believe they were shifting as fast as Ella's cakes. Igor had realised early on that he needed help so his legal guy sent over the bean counter for the project and one of his other staff to do the form filling after Igor had done the tour, and answered the questions.

By Sunday evening news spread among the investors that 21 of the 30 standard units had been snapped up, in various local internet property and business chat forums people were saying that IMC were producing the most interesting new developments they had ever seen in the city. Neither Igor or the others involved had realised that producing anything in mass housing that went beyond minimal standards would be seen as so exciting, a splash of colour and an improved all round spec had caused quite a stir in that market sector.

As June drew to a close Anna was round at Eve's house when they heard the latest bit of family gossip from Magda regarding Romko. His mum passed on the news that along with a change of appearance, he'd also started hanging about with a girl in the same street, his mum thought it sweet that it looked as if he'd found his first girlfriend.

Chapter 77

The first month of the school holidays had been crazy non-stop at the Studio, with the mass influx of girls from around the country, there to squirrel away the majority of their picture sets and videos over the two or three visits they would make during the summer holiday. Aside from the Goose sisters, several other city based models frequently came into the Studio to help coach those girls doing their first video shoots.

For those girls living in the city every aspect of their lives was more intense, school life, as they wanted to go on and make something of themselves after modelling, their social lives, as they could afford to go out and enjoy themselves, and their financial planning to make sure they used their earnings wisely. Recent academic endeavours in both learning to speak English, and improved computer literacy, meant they were in the new vanguard of people in their country now catching up with the people of the west.

Unlike their counterparts in the schools of Britain or the USA, they had a greater hunger to do well, to change their lot in life, and that of their families. Surrounded as they were by the signs of abject poverty even within their own Capital they had a constant reminder snapping at their heels concerning the cost of failure in a State that had no safety net.

Anna went to the stables every week, sometimes even two or three times, and had taken young Micky with her twice so she could have some basic instruction while Anna had more advanced lessons in preparation for taking part in some novice competitions that were coming up. On the home front the footings had been dug for a two story side extension with a games room for the kids off the study, and a nursery upstairs for the new baby. Igor and Melenki had their heads together as they studied the Gantt chart on Igor's laptop showing the time lines and projected progress for their various undertakings.

The once risk averse maintenance guy had turned into a wily and respected businessman.

They were now in a position where people were lined up to fill the remaining apartments twenty times over with the self perpetuating free publicity that was circulating on the local forums that both Marta and Karl kept their eyes on. They had also been approached by over a dozen people with regard to the penthouse units who weren't put off by either the cost, nor the up-front payment arrangements to ensure an extended longer term lease.

The option to buy the twin building on the next plot had moved from a vague possibility, past a strong probability, and moved on into the realms of an outright certainty - a rapidly approaching one if they could line up the second set of GRINS parents, another major conditional factor was organising their workforce. There was no point in them purchasing the building until they had the labour free to begin that job, for it seemed they had found a niche market of people who wanted more than the cookie-cutter standard apartment.

The city's accommodation seemed divided between mass housing for the workers and the lower management, then homes for the inordinately wealthy, with an insufficient cover for the middle ground. The nouveau-riche involved in new types of business venture weren't that rich, but perhaps they had greater expectations than for what was readily available in the existing housing stock for the masses. These people were computer literate, they also networked, and now they were talking about the new kid on the block called IMC.

To escape the noise and dust of the building work at home the sisters spent a bit more time at the Studio during the first weekend of July, with Anna introducing their out of town visitors to the wonders of the TTMF. Chatting with members telling them she had some guests present, giving out the web names of the girls looking on, saying she'd translate as an intermediary. Shortly Anna got a phone call from Alina stating how a message had now been posted on the members forum, so increasing numbers of the Gold-plus guys were watching the chat running on the forum.

Typically this was another of those events that caused a spike of interest and site traffic, as Anna explained to those members logged on that some of the models had trouble in finding English teachers. She then had to chide some of them for offering the various girls present the chance to come and visit them for personal English lessons, with Anna saying if they couldn't speak the models native language that would cause some difficulties.

The banter remained light hearted, though Anna got the distinct impression several of the Platinum members she was talking with wouldn't think twice about paying the girls air fare if they thought they could get away with inviting them into their homes.

Anna hadn't realised herself just how proficient she'd become with a foreign language until she listened to the comments from her 'country cousins' about the speed of their dialogue. Sitting around talking with those models later in the canteen she came to the conclusion by comparison her education in many spheres was ahead of her peers. It was astounding to think in just over a year she'd become a sophisticated city girl. There was no chance either she or any of her siblings would be complaining to their parents about being bored at any time during the summer break, they were far too busy, even the boys.

With schedules in her own house so often subject to change, plus the fact the place was swarming with builders, Marta and Karl made use of his bedroom as the movements of his parents was far more predictable. He was also able to work quite variable hours in order to get time off that suited the pair of them. They appreciated understanding parents, and the fact they had lazy unhurried times alone together to enjoy the wonder of teenage sex.

By the end of the first full week of July Anna and Eve had recorded their fourteenth set of pussy pictures with a lesser number of pictures recording the development of their small boobs. Anna wanted to be up early on the Saturday as she needed to be at the Stables as she was catching a ride to her first Gymkhana event. Her mum and dad said they would try to get there, but she understood how busy everyone was, so hopefully she could get one of the staff from the Stable's to video the events where she was taking part.

It was less than twenty kilometres to the small regional show-ground, after looking around when she arrived Anna was surprised how calm she felt. The junior competitions ring was well within her ability, as her trainer had coached her over bigger fences, and she knew Silver wouldn't let her down. She got to watch a few events from the sidelines before it was time for her to get ready, meeting for the first time the other girls she'd be competing against, it was then she admitted to herself she was a little nervous.

Suddenly she was distracted – Marta shouting out wishing her luck, she was there with Karl, it made her feel a lot better knowing she would be cheered along by someone other than just the staff from the Stables. Rushing over she asked how they'd managed to get there, only to discover her whole family would be in the stands. Hardly getting to talk she was called back with the other competitors for a lecture by one of the marshals.

At last it was her turn, she'd watched two of the girls who rode first, and neither had that many faults, she sat ready in the saddle having patted Silver; then the bell and they were off. She measured the strides, they sailed over the first, a tight turn, then line up for the second, yes perfect, Silver doing just as she asked. The crowd faded into the background, just her and Silver having fun, leaping over the obstacles like they'd done so many times in practice. Before she knew it they'd cleared the last jump, and the commentator was calling out their time, she almost wanted to go round again, but she didn't want to be disqualified in her first event.

Back in the holding area she was congratulated for a clear round in a respectable time with only two more girls left to ride. It was a tense delay as she awaited the results as the final mark was down to time and penalty points. The girl who'd been expected to gain top spot came away with third, Anna was well pleased to have placed second at her first real test, then looked out for the winner, as that was the girl she'd need to beat on her next outing, for she wanted to do this again and again.

Finding her family to show them her rosette, Anna found her sister's words did mean the whole family as Nana Olga and Gramps were there too, and they'd seen her riding over the jumps with Nana Olga saying her heart had been in her mouth it had been so scary. Anna laughed saying it was good fun, she turned as someone tapped on her back, it was Micky there with her parents and grandpa. Micky was wide eyed, watching the riders and horses had been so exciting and now her hero had won a rosette for placing second.

Anna did manage to take part in another event where she placed third, which meant she came away with two rosettes, and Silver had two ribbons on his tack that would later be put up in his stall. The show-ground had a carnival atmosphere with games, sideshows and hawkers of various sorts, both for food, and for numerous equestrian supplies.

Anna found out that everyone had intended to come from the outset, they'd just been unsure whether to tell her beforehand that she'd have so many supporters in the stands.

Max found a moment alone to speak with Anna, thanking her for all she'd done for his son and daughter-in-law, and especially for how she'd helped Micky. Anna denied it was down to her alone, more the people she'd introduced them to, and how Micky wouldn't have been taken on as a fashion model if she wasn't so pretty and so exotic. As her parents had a full motor he offered to give her a lift home with his crowd, but Anna said she needed to go back via the Stables as she wanted to groom Sliver herself as he'd done so well.

Max then said he would drive out to collect her after he'd dropped Micky off at home.

Anna celebrated and commiserated with girls from her own Stables, but regardless of their ranking in the overall results they'd all had a great day out. She thoroughly enjoyed being able to help load then unload when they got back, feeding Silver some treats as she curry combed his fine summer coat. When she'd finished with the grooming she found Max was waiting there to give her a ride home. It made her smile that the man was so happy with his own upturn in business separate from the cab company, he was also pleased about his son's move to teach at a new school, noting it was the same one Anna and a lot of the other Studio girls attended. Anna played dumb, saying his son must have heard one of the girls taking English lessons mention the vacancy for a geography teacher.

He wouldn't take any money for the ride, saying that Micky's smile all day was payment enough. Anna gave the old man a kiss and thanked him, saying she hoped to see him again soon. The scaffolding to the side of their house was now getting higher as the build progressed at a rapid pace, prominent on view for passers by was the sign for IMC, not that they really had to advertise with the work they had booked. Her dad had been saying if they did more internal work like the apartment blocks it would ensure the men had work they would be able to do even throughout the cold depths of winter.

The next time Anna was on roster for the TTMF she spoke of her latest outing on 'Trigger' stating she'd won some more rosettes, as she had to keep up with the fiction that she'd already won some in the past as shown in her videos. It was the subject of videos that kept dragging her back to the Studio, as she'd specially written a two handed script for the sisters who'd been taking English lessons with Mary. Fifteen year old Catherine, and her nine year old sister Ivanna were to star in a joint venture although the younger girl would have less lines than her big sister.

Alina had noted the popularity of any two handed video, but especially those that featured girls at different stages of development. The bald pussy and stick straight figure of the nine year old whose most prominent attribute was her bubble butt, made a stark contrast with her taller lanky sister who was a riot of curves, long limbs, with her spectacularly firm perky B cup breasts. Although the summer was mostly for the out of town girls, city girls also got in a few photo or video shoots, more especially those that were going through a growth spurt, or they'd appear to change so much between one shoot to the next.

Catherine and Ivanna were simply going to do a dressing-up scene with the younger girl coming into her older sisters bedroom while she was trying on a whole load of clothes, but mostly sexy lacy underwear. Ivanna's childish white cotton panties would provide a perfect contrast to what her sister was modelling. When she tried on the older girl's underwear she would need to pull it up high on her hips being as it was so oversized on her, so as to display a camel-toe with each change of garment. Catherine having a full pubic bush that was only shaped in order to wear a bikini formed another counterpoint between the girls.

Oksana was again on camera, though it was in another of the modern apartments that the Studio used, but in a building Anna hadn't seen before. Ivanna had previously worked at another Studio within the group as featured in the rather tame red album, although since stepping up, she'd done quite a few sessions both by herself and with her older sister.

When filming began Oksana called for the action to cut several times, both to hand out instructions, and to film from different angles. The cut and paste would eventually look as if it were filmed with several cameras as the whole shoot would be held together with an overall music backing track that would make it appear continuous.

At a break in filming Ivanna said she still did shoots for the other Studio even though it didn't pay as much, and of course she kept the same 'stage' name on both titles, and her sister was in talks about trying a few shoots with their affiliate Studio in the group that did the more advanced shoots that covered girls from fourteen through to seventeen, so they were both keeping very busy. Catherine also wanted to keep a foot in two camps as they'd been advised there was still plenty of potential in the two handed sets they'd been doing.

When Catherine said their parents were investing some of their savings in the second GRINS project because they'd been too slow off the mark first time round, Oksana asked if it was limited to the models and their families, as she'd like to invest given the chance. Anna said it had been set up for the models as they'd such a limited 'working life' though she didn't see any reason why any of their friends within the business couldn't be offered a share in one of the projects providing the models got first shout.

The two current models got back to the position they were in at the break in filming, or close enough as Oksana was now shooting from a different angle as the two girls helped one another out of one skimpy item and into the next catching lots of open legged shots of both girls. Anna noticed that just like her and Marta, these two sisters didn't shy away from close physical contact, so thought she might write them a sketch where they could share a bath together. Listening to Ivanna made her smile as she could hear the influence of young Micky in the way she delivered her few lines, it was also pleasing they ad-libbed.

Talking after their shoot Catherine said she was going to join in the TTMF shortly just to do the odd shift to start with, with Ivanna saying she hadn't learned enough to cope with the speed, but she watched Micky sometimes when she was online. Anna was pleased to see that Micky had at least one close friend her own age in among the models, and no doubt next term they would share classes in school, for Micky's place had been confirmed.

It was good to have friends in high places with influence.

Meeting up later with Eve she heard the latest of her cousin. Romko had split up with the girl he had been seeing, she'd told him it wasn't his fault, and hoped they'd still be friends. Eve said he'd sounded quite upset, so she reminded him that's what they told him would happen, and he wasn't to worry, but not to go chasing after another girlfriend straight away. She wasn't sure at first if he'd follow their advice, but then said they'd been right so far, and she'd be angry with him if he didn't stick with the program they'd laid out.

Eve said it was the threat they would be angry that kept him in line, so he would keep a low profile for a few days, then be seen out and about alone to see if any girls approached him, as his first girlfriend hadn't complained as such, she just thought with him being so experienced he should go out with an older girl. Eve had checked he hadn't pushed her too far and it turned out they hadn't gone beyond heavy kissing and light petting over their clothing. They speculated on whether he would be able to stick with their advice, and how well he would proceed with the next girl, for they knew the news would spread.

Just over half way through July they all sat down for a family meeting, because if they didn't say something, someone else might, so Greg and Peter learned that in January they were going to have a new baby brother or sister. Peter asked if it could be a brother as girls were too bossy, the females of the house put him in his place saying how you didn't get to choose, you got whatever arrived. Greg seemed pleased about the building work pointing out the baby would have it's own bedroom, and nobody would need to share again, though he did concede he would share his toys.

At six and a half weeks since they'd signed the papers on the apartment block, they had takers for all the standard units, and so far four tenants had been able to move in to their completed units. More would be able to move in soon providing they didn't mind the noise going on around them on those unfinished units, they had also signed up the two lucky winners who'd been willing to stump up the most cash for the two penthouse apartments.

With the penthouse deals in the can they'd only so far taken the deposits, but each was to have it's own unique finish both in terms of decorations and all the sophisticated extras. Also the bathrooms and kitchens would have all mod cons and acres of real stone so that they really looked the part. They were getting plenty of before and after pictures for their website, and for any periodicals where they could get some free or bribed publicity.

By early in August all the standard units would be finished and tenanted, and by the end of September the top floor would be ready for their more wealthy occupants, by which time they would get a big cash injection. Igor feeling stretched had been puzzling on how to get the second project under way before that payout arrived, and now his legal advisor had come up with the answer. Instead of being paid a regular sum as the project manager the idea was to have twenty-five shares on the coming project, twenty-four shareholders paying in, and one share for him in lieu of payment, receiving a share for his managerial services rather than stumping up cash in front as he'd done on GRINS number one.

Being well into the first project, they had a much closer idea of the costs they would face on the second block, so had no trouble finding the investors for GRINS-2 which would be a carbon copy. The plan was if they could sign for the second building by the end of July the guys who had been camping out in the unfinished units could decamp the thirty metres across to their next project. There would even be some left over paint and materials from one job they could use on the next as all the while Karl kept a watch out for any more auctions though it was doubtful they could pull off the date switch scam again.

Karl felt it was great that he got on so well with Marta's dad, he had been so in awe of the man when they'd first met, quite sure Igor could carry out his threat if he'd done anything to upset Marta. He was always thinking of ways he could help out, and had now seeded the rumour that phase two was under discussion, with IMC looking to release a similar range of apartments in the adjacent block for those that had missed out first time around. He was also looking at a change of scam for the auctions, having looked more closely into how they were run. Again it was a scam he didn't think he would be able to run often, so he would save it for some high value lot that Igor really wanted.

Marta had told him about her mum's pregnancy a while ago, but now that it was common knowledge he congratulated her parents, Marta had also explained that the Pill was not infallible, and if she ever had any tummy troubles or sickness, he would be using condoms for the following month just to be sure she avoided the same fate as her mum.

Having said that, all the family were very happy to have a new if unintentional addition, not wanting to know from the doctors whether it was a a boy or girl in advance, as they had two of each already they wanted it to be a surprise.

Gramps and Nana Olga were regular visitors to the Squat, Olga helping in the café where some of their own excess garden produce ended up on the menu, Gramps would have donated the vegetables for free, but both Yaroslaw and Kejan insisted he be paid at least wholesale prices, though of course Gramps produce was both fresher and looked nicer.

The couple kept busy all the time so it was much better than their old boring life which had proved awful after their special friends moved away, now they had many interesting diversions every day of the week.

Gramps felt he could hold his head up, he earned his crust, keeping an ear open locally for new work, assisting both Marta's MMC, and the men of the IMC. Although he could call up on the phone in an emergency to speak with Melenki, or Luka the old boy who was the caretaker at the Squat now that they had a phone, but he still liked to visit so he and Olga could socialise with all their new friends.

The sisters thought the days that summer just didn't seem long enough to get everything done. Every direction they turned something exciting was happening, so Anna wasn't at all disappointed that she had a smaller 'home crowd' for the other two gymkhanas that she competed in during the school holiday. Nana Olga and Gramps attended, driven by Max who came with Micky to both events, seeing Anna keep the promise she'd made to herself to beat the girl who'd beaten her to first place in her initial competition outing. After three competitions she had an impressive array of rosettes to show for the year, three first-place then three for second place, and the one for third, having placed in each of her rounds.

This only increased the adulation and hero worship from Micky her dusky young friend who wanted to emulate Anna's endeavours. Anna not wishing to alienate the girl's parents made it plain to Micky that she had to put her education first, as her modelling wouldn't go on forever, and if she wanted to go on having exciting hobbies she would need a good career when she grew up. Mary, Micky's mum understood this more than most, as she had escaped her background before she'd got sucked into the possible futures that loomed in front of her had she stayed in the Philippines.

A life of minimum wage and drudgery as a hotel maid, or the short career as a bar girl, to be hustling for punters, each year looking at the younger girls taking away her trade, and then a very uncertain future. Her move had not been typical, though marrying a teacher in eastern Europe was something she didn't regret for a moment, and now due to their very pretty daughter both her own and Paul's careers had taken an upward turn. They'd spoken to Micky as to how the modelling might only last for another five to seven years, but to a girl of nine that seemed to be an eternity, so she and Paul wanted to invest wisely in the knowledge they'd have something put by if their fortunes were to take a tumble.

The overlap of GRINS one and two meant that all the tradesmen and labourers were fully deployed, and the twin site had been the subject of interest, in that no other building firm was so visible with a workforce all wearing matching tops. It was a small cost to provide T-shirts for the guys on site, with the women of the Squat doing regular laundry, it gave the operation a more professional appearance. A few men imported from the provinces who'd at first thought the job could be spun out were soon disabused of that idea by the older hands who told them their bonus payments were related to both speed and quality.

Quality wouldn't be sacrificed for the sake of speed, but while the work was flowing, the sooner one project was completed then the sooner they could move on to the following job with an extra cash bonus in their back pocket. For guys who'd been more used to doing shoddy work with substandard materials on dangerous sites on those few occasions they could find employment in the past, this was an entirely different concept.

They were doing work in which they could take pride in the finished results.

Unlike any jobs they'd worked on before people turned up on time smart and sober, ready to do their job, and not anxious to rush off at the final whistle if they were only part way through the task they were currently doing. For many of the new men it was the first time in years that they were earning a good regular income with the prospect of more work ahead of them. The stimulus either directly or indirectly for all this employment was from the founding of the Studio network that created images of girls for a distant audience that lived half a world away where the meaning of real poverty was barely understood.

Marta's MMC had also changed, no longer under the leadership of Taras, but one of his younger lieutenants. New street kids had been recruited to the point where the wealthy district that was their working turf had been divided into two as it had slowly expanded through word of mouth. A 'second chapter' MMC2 now looked after one patch, as a single group of youngsters above a certain size would've become unwieldy. MMC2 had similar shirts in their own colour scheme, and there remained a friendly rivalry between them.

Taras now worked for IMC doing a man's job for a man's wage, still saving what he could and able to pay his way, his life vastly changed like that of his girlfriend and her mother.

Ten months on since Irisha had first been approached by Marta, her life had also taken the most dramatic of changes, Laura her web alter-ego was riding the crest of a wave with all the English videos that made her high profile, and she had many genuine close friends with which to share the triumphs in her life. She was no longer a virgin, enjoying a close loving relationship with Taras, and had approached the subject with her mum of having him move into their flat.

Multi-generational households were fairly common, even with family groups that didn't have the advantage of such generous accommodations, as they had a two bedroom flat which was spacious by most standards. Yana initially baulked at the idea that her daughter of fourteen going on fifteen would suggest the idea, though she knew they were sexually active. After a long mother and daughter discussion Yana gave way if only on the practical grounds that it would encourage the two youngsters to stay together, besides she wasn't at the flat that much now that she was seeing so much of Pavlo from the Studio.

By the third week of August Anna and Eve had twenty sets of pussy pictures which did show their noticeable development over the summer, their lips a little more prominent, and the faint chevrons of tiny straight hairs that were the precursor of the pubic hair that was yet on the horizon. The progress of their bust development was somewhat slower, as the titty fairy had so far been away blessing other girls. Eve did go over to her cousin's to his fourteenth birthday celebration where she met his latest girlfriend, and she caught up with all the local gossip, including what the girl had to say about her older cousin.

A week later Eve phoned to give the not quite so hapless boy some tips about how to treat his current girl, and to invite him over to play 'board games' on a date she knew her parents and brother would be out for the whole day. Romko arrived at the allotted time as he was told, hoping that his younger cousin might have had a change of heart, so that he could make more progress than he had when her friend was there, though when it was Anna who answered the door he wasn't sure if he should be happy or wary.

Chapter 78

Anna smiled at his startled expression, as she and Eve took him through to the kitchen to give him a thorough grilling on his progress with the girls from his local neighbourhood, in that Eve already had a heads-up from the girl he was currently dating, not that Romko would have realised how much girls were willing to tell one another. The current girl was only a little younger than Romko, and only his second girlfriend as he'd taken their advice not to go out on the prowl after he'd parted company with the first girl on good terms as she'd felt a little out of her depth in that he was much more experienced.

The first girl had been impressed he was a good kisser, which had somewhat surprised her, but later on as they got closer and the petting began she then got cold feet, though she had been relived he'd taken no for an answer when she got out of her comfort zone. Eve said how word had spread locally that Romko showed respect for a girls limits, which was followed by a spell of him talking with several girls, but not getting any dates until the girl he was currently seeing. She was a little more adventurous and although some petting had taken place it was still early days and all above the waist, meaning he'd yet to have a girlfriend get him off, or get a chance to demonstrate his oral skills in return.

He felt exposed as the two younger girls sat there dissecting his love life as if it were some sort of laboratory experiment, though on the other hand previous times in their company had been pretty extraordinary. If not for his cousin and her friend he would know Jack shit about a girl's body, as theirs were the only two pussys he'd seen in real life, he was also intimately aware of how they felt and tasted. Shit, he hadn't even known how to kiss a girl properly until that first lesson from Eve, then later from both her and Anna.

Perhaps it was a good thing that girls in his own neighbourhood weren't so knowledgeable or quite so bossy as these two, as around his district girls were looking at him differently since he'd taken their advice on his appearance. He realised he'd made a stupid mistake when he asked the girls about what they and their boyfriends had done over the summer since he'd last been over. He was put firmly in his place, in that who they saw, and what they did was no concern of his, leading him to think for a while they were going to send him packing, so he quickly apologised.

He wasn't left eating humble pie for long, but he did spend a lot of time eating two pussys that day, and they made him pump his own cock for his first cum, in way of penance for his impertinence, but also as both girls were curious to see how a guy did it for himself. Romko felt kind of self-conscious whacking-off in front of an audience, though the fact it was two pretty and naked girls ensured he had something more inspiring than a page torn from some old porn magazine. He'd really gotten off before coming on their tits, so it was a pity this time that his load ended up landing on an old towel rather than on either girl.

Between them they'd decided not to let Romko get big headed about his progress over the summer, wanting to reinforce the idea that any success he'd had was totally of their doing. Just as Anna had done last time with Romko, Eve also wanted to play ride the cock, to sit there sliding back and forth over their supine boy toy. She now had her own set of sex toys that ate up batteries, but as she settled herself into place as Anna rode his tongue, Eve felt the hot pulsating flesh was more exciting than the vibrating plastic of her toys.

Riding the pliable spring loaded rod of boy meat was pretty amazing, as she could tilt her hips getting just the right pressure where she wanted it. Fortunately she was able to rub herself to orgasm before Romko splattered his chest with his second load of of the day, as Anna forcing him to concentrate on licking her pussy had provided a useful distraction. The two girls continued to enjoy their day of experimentation, with their subject none the wiser that he was their sole male partner in terms of both research and sexual relief.

By mid afternoon he'd been sent off well drained with instructions that he should offer to please his current girlfriend either manually or orally while accepting she might initially be reluctant to make that same offer in return. They'd somehow convinced him she'd be so delighted with his efforts that he was bound to get some form of relief if he did as they'd taught him. All he had to do was avoid bumping into his girlfriend for the remainder of the day, and probably the following morning as she'd wonder where his ever-present erection was, in that he knew she was usually aware of it when they were making out together.

The last week and a half of the school holiday was full of frantic action for those girls who'd spent a great deal of that time cramming in all the English lessons possible during that summer. Along with the Goose sisters, all the other local playwrights had come up with a range of entertaining scenes that required a little less dialogue for those who lacked confidence in their linguistic skills. All those in the photographic department able to wield a video camera were kept busy from early morning to late evening. There was little time to check the rushes, and none to do any editing until after the silly season was over.

Girls doing their first English videos were told not to worry about any fluffed lines or their accented pronunciation, as the members wouldn't criticise these mistakes, if anything they found those slip-ups cute and so amusing to watch. The end of the school holiday also coincided with Anna's family getting their house back, in the fact their building work had been completed, though there would be a delay until it was possible to begin decorating.

Mikayla, or Micky as she preferred, had to visit her new school the day before it opened in order to register as a pupil accompanied by her parents, along with her new friend Ivanna with whom she would be sharing classes. Micky felt it would be strange for the first time going to a school where her dad would be one of the teachers, though it was great that she knew a whole bunch of pupils with whom she also shared a special secret. Lessons at the school would be more challenging, so she'd spent some time over the holiday reading through a big pile of textbooks in order that she wouldn't fall behind her new classmates.

Her other incentive was that Anna had told her that all the models prided themselves on being among the best pupils at the school, and that her parents would be more inclined to let her go horse riding if she did well in her lessons. Aside from her audition that had been made into her début set, she'd done two more sets though so far only one of those had been released, with the other held back by the sales department until they considered it the best time to launch her third set. She'd also done two videos with one of them also held in reserve for later, which now meant that she had put by a sufficient catalogue of material to pass her probationary period with the Studio to move on to a rolling contract.

Ivan said he was very pleased with how her two photo-sets and video which were up on the site had been received by their members when she'd visited with her parents to talk about extending her contract. At the time the whole place had been buzzing, brim full of girls awaiting their turn in front of the lights, many were in costume to save time on set, in the canteen they wore disposable aprons to ensure they didn't get any spills on their fancy clothing. Micky did get her wish regarding the pretty shoes, as in her third photo-shoot, and in both of her videos she had either posh shoes or boots to wear.

Some weeks ago she and her mum met Svetlana the English teacher sponsored by the Studio who taught at both the schools favoured by local city based models. Her mum had talked to the lady a few times before on the phone, but that had been their first face to face meeting. Between them they worked out some introductory lessons for the groups of girls who were visiting from all across the country, then they began making phone calls to speak with teachers near to where some of the girls lived in order to arrange local lessons.

Traditionally with school starting on the 1st of September they only had a couple of days then it was the weekend. Ivanna introduced Micky to the rest of their classmates as her new friend, and the daughter of the lady who'd been giving her English lessons during the summer break. They were the two youngest models that attended that particular school, but she soon saw many other familiar faces in the subset of girls who ranked as the local academic elite, so those outside the group weren't surprised Micky was accepted if her mum taught many of those girls extra English.

With Ivanna having an older sister Catherine who was also a model, Micky got a lot of insights into the social structures of school life. There was a friendly rivalry between the two top schools that the majority of city models went to, and they all strived to get the top grades in their classes, wanting to have successful lives beyond their modelling careers. Micky learned that due to the older girls having academic goals, they got on well with the nerds and swats, so it had started a sort of scholastic arms race among the older boys in the higher grades who wanted to associate with some of the prettier girls at their school.

Having tasted the good life the models were motivated and driven to achieve, therefore they didn't want to have boyfriends that had no ambition in life. For now the younger girls were just amused observers of what went on among the higher grades of the school.

It didn't take long for Micky's classmates to discover that her father was also a teacher, and new on the staff of their school, although Micky complained he would meet with all her other class teachers every day, so she couldn't get away with anything.

The Studio was now almost abandoned, just a skeleton crew to run the servers that kept their vast client base happy, and the sales people looking after those accounts along with the ever growing deluge of new members. The revenue dollars came in torrents and were divided up to be passed out to staff and the myriad of models spread throughout the land, providing unheard of levels of income that sustained families in a country on its knees. Those singular girls based in rural isolation were perhaps more starkly surrounded by the poverty sometimes less apparent in the cities, their parents either choosing to begin some type of business that generally raised the local economy, or to squirrel the money away, though many were blind to advice, living solely from their daughter's income stream.

The three main Studio complexes were based in separate cities, each gaining their nearby cluster of models, those girls that had originally lived locally, and other families that felt a move was the best way forwards for any number of reasons. A proportion of those living in Kiev had become involved in the property investments, which as long as tenants could be found would provide an ongoing rental revenue. All said and done they owned a share in a building which was a sound investment that could be sold on if ever the need arose.

Through their networked connections in the city, the parents of the girls had found work, with a good deal of those families having a selection of investments or various business interests to provide for their long term future. Because the localised city clusters tended to provide mutual support they flourished and benefited in many ways, some less obvious than others, but it gave them strength in numbers.

At the end of September the GRINS-1 coffers were substantially swelled by the closure of the deals on the two penthouse apartments. As project leader and main contractor Igor shared in the agreed bonus payments for coming in on time and nicely under budget.

Melenki as Igor's deputy and full time man on site got a hefty share, while all the crew on down the line got a share commensurate to their pay scale. Even the most basic labourers got more than they'd been expecting, but their longest spell of employment was not about to be interrupted by any drunken binge in way of celebration.

The team Melenki had working for him knew to turn up on time and fit for work if they wanted to remain employed, the first incident would get you turned away from the site with the loss of a day's pay, a second incident could well be your last. Safety and efficiency on site could be seriously affected by anyone suffering from a hangover, so anybody with thoughts they might party for a night had the good sense to book a day off in advance.

Those interested parties that had missed out in obtaining an apartment in the first block were informed of the second project the minute the paperwork was signed, as Karl was running their IT e-mail and media campaign. He kept an eye on any local forums that the young and enterprising new business types might follow, seeding each one with news or favourable comments on the project just completed, and about the expected scramble for apartments in the building currently about to start refurbishment.

Commercial auctions for bankrupt stock were all too common, with Marta's next audacious scam being arranged by her boyfriend when they discovered that some larger companies took part in either telephone or e-mail bidding. The latter was still a completely new arena for many of the auction companies so it would be fertile ground for their own dirty tricks, figuring the original owners were already bankrupt, only big banks would actually suffer.

Igor sometimes joined Melenki at bigger auctions, not out of place with a mobile phone in hand as they talked with Karl at the other end sitting at his keyboard. They made bids on those items of interest, but if the price went too high, they got Karl to take over. He was using several temporary spoof e-mail addresses that looked very similar to those of the big players of the sort that would be buyers at these events, therefore hardly given a second glance by the auctioneer's assistant who would make him aware of the remote biding.

As the day progressed and the list of lots decreased, buyers would settle up for what they had bought, and then leave. At the end of play as the auction house tried to contact the successful e-mail bidders on some lots for payment they would come up blank, then a call on the phone would reveal there was a misunderstanding, as the e-mail wasn't the correct address. The only people still hanging about were either minnows hoping to mop up a few small tail end bargains, or Igor able to purchase this suddenly available stock at a knock down price practically of his own choosing.

They only managed to run the scam a few times with different auction companies, at each event having a few friendly ringers in the crowd at the end so that neither Igor or Melenki were seen to be the exclusive benefactors of these strange anomalies, even though they were. As only large institutions took a hit rather than the ordinary working man, Igor saw no moral conflict in seeking an advantage, it was just working smarter rather than working harder to make the GRINS projects more profitable for everyone concerned.

They had only targeted a few select auctions that promised the best return, taking their chances like anyone else on the smaller less important sales. Aside from Karl's work on the IT front, word of mouth from friends visiting apartments in the first project caused a rush of additional interest above that already expressed in their newest building refurbishment.

With the potential tenants far exceeding the supply of new units there was talk of raising the leasing cost by a small amount on the latest build to reflect that situation.

Melenki was amused that Igor still kept his job as site manager at the company where the two of them had met, as now Igor's pay from that job must be like pocket change to his good friend. Stepping forward with the times to organise everything using a computer had shown that a man who understood the jobs on site was far better able to supervise the workforce, it also helped with the efficient delivery and use of materials. Melenki's life had changed drastically by also using a laptop himself to keep ahead of the game, thinking in terms of weeks or months ahead, whereas in the past that wasn't nearly so easy.

He recently learned he had something else in common with his friend and mentor, in that they were both to have babies in the coming year. For Melenki and his wife Trina it was to be their first, before although his job had looked fairly secure they'd felt his single wage would be insufficient if she gave up her cleaning job. Fortunately her job was no longer necessary, and over the summer they'd moved into a bigger flat in a nicer neighbourhood.

His main job was to keep things running on site, now having his own range of foreman to each of the trades, then there were other people responsible for running the office which was now situated near to the Squat on the same industrial site. The warehouse and office building was slowly being converted during the evenings by the men themselves to make additional accommodation for housing their ever increasing workforce. The small charge that was levied for bed and board was far less than the workers would've paid elsewhere, so it was very popular with those guys who'd made the journey in search of employment.

An auction for the complete contents of a furniture warehouse had supplied the higher end goods for kitting out some of the apartments, while also providing beds, and a whole shed load of mattresses and other stuff for the workers, many of whom had previously felt lucky to have a bit of floorspace and a warm blanket. By the time winter arrived the new conversion would be complete, with one of their friends at district administration offices having filed the change of use forms with all the correct stamps for a small consideration.

For guys with such unfortunate employment records they were grateful to be working for IMC where they had so many facilities for the staff. With food, accommodation, and travel pretty much covered, those that were away from home were able to send more money back to their families. The school that had started in the Squat back in February remained very active and self sustaining with those that were literate and numerate able to help those who'd had less of a formal education. The plight of Taras had been the seed of that operation, and now all these months later he could proudly read anything thanks to Irisha.

At the school Irisha attended many of her older friends from the Studio who were taking English lessons were down to take formal exams in that subject when the time came, with their head teacher proudly aware that it would only improve the prestige of their school in providing a useful additional foreign language. The head was also aware that a certain subset of girls at her institution were pushing to take a far wider range of subjects on to exam levels, so they would leave with an impressive academic record that would assist their entry into any good University to continue their higher education.

For a man of very modest education Igor had by now realised he was no longer the simple maintenance worker he'd once been, he'd gained many new skills, in computing, in time and man management, in commerce, and in having the confidence of his own abilities.

Just as his girls had said back when they'd first moved to the Capital, “If you look the part and feel the part, you can be the part.”

Igor had become a shrewd and respected businessman, who saw a new growing sector of demand existed for a better class of accommodation. The Studio network was just one of a slowly expanding group of entrepreneurs that were following western trends, therefore they had higher expectations than those trapped in the old communist mind set, but he could see the market was slow to react to their aspirations. He realised IMC was feeding a market that had hardly existed in the past, as even the middle managers faired little better than the working poor, then there was a vast gulf between them and the super wealthy.

With a new baby on the way, and the growth of IMC, he could no longer justify the time he spent on his day job. He was very grateful to his own boss Stepan, but it was time for a parting of the ways. They had an amicable chat about Igor's need to spend more time on his own ventures, and of course he would work a period of notice so as not to leave them in the lurch. Stepan was sorry to see him go, asking if perhaps Igor could train up a couple of the other managers to use computer software, or be available as a consultant.

Igor agreed to do what he could, then after speaking with Karl passed on his details as the local go-to guy for knowledge on computer systems, saying although the lad wasn't yet eighteen, he was well versed in all the latest technology. From the beginning of October Igor would be his own man, everything then hanging on the fortunes of IMC, plus each of the completed schemes in which his family maintained an interest.

Having learned from GRINS-1, GRINS-2 was mostly booked off-plan before refurbishment had hardly begun, people lining up to specify the colours, finishes, and furnishings in order that they could move in to their dream apartments as soon as they became available, not concerned the work would continue around them. It also helped the bottom line to have all their deposits paid in so far up front. Igor even made use of the Studio's slack season following the models return to school by employing some of the seamstresses in producing curtains and matching soft furnishings for the higher spec more bespoke units.

They'd originally expected a five percent premium over and above the first block, but with the new takers more aware of the options to customise their apartments, they were happy to pay more for something that had greater individuality. The thirty 'normal units' worked out at an average of almost ten percent higher rental than their first project, with a larger number of people enquiring about the penthouse units.

While Igor had initially drawn down quite heavily on the family nest egg, they now owned their own house outright that was uncommon even among the well to do, their extension was almost ready, and they now had a regular income from GRINS one that far exceeded what they could have expected as interest dividends from any other normal safe financial investment. Also as the director of his own building company he was making a good living while all his workers were very happy with their own current situation.

Aside from Anna's modelling income, she earned money from the TTMF, and both she and Marta earned an enormous amount from their other involvement with all their various schemes at the Studio. Early on they had been advised to look for vehicles to safely invest Anna's income, almost eighteen months on their lives were indescribably different, but if the girls gave it all up tomorrow, the family would still be well provided for thanks to wise council and grasping every opportunity that had presented itself.

Igor hadn't abandoned his cautious nature, but he had gained the balls to face his fears to make reasoned judgements. He could foresee IMC growing, mostly on the investments of other people, people who were their friends, therefore he wasn't inclined to be reckless.

All said and done the capital investors of each succeeding project would be part owners of well refurbished building stock that was worth considerably more than they'd paid for it, so there would be no losers.

With the economy in general moving quite slowly, few building companies were looking to the housing sector, neither had they the cash nor the wit to see those movers and shakers living in the city wanted something over and above what was currently available.

The majority of the housing over the years had been built down to a price rather than up to a specification, so what they were doing was recognised as different and exciting.

If and when IMC saw some competition in the market, the ace up their sleeve would be young Karl who through his knowledge of computers would see off any rivals.

His initial worries about Marta's boyfriend had long since receded, Ella convinced that the pair would be married by the time their daughter completed University.

That was another way their lives had altered, the certain fact that all their children would be able to have a far better education than expected, not be forced to search for the first minimum wage job they could find, as had been their likely prospect in the past. Karl had a good solid job, and he was increasing his education in an elite field that made his skills valuable in their rather backward country that was scrabbling to catch up with the west.

It was a sort of nepotism to find his probable future son in law some part time additional income by passing his name on to his old boss Stepan. Overall it was better they speak to the expert, as although Karl had taught him many useful ways a computer could help in a modern business it was best he dealt with them directly. Igor could see computing would become more important as they strove to catch up with more advanced nations, so he was happy to see how conversant his own kids were becoming with this technology, also their language skills would put them at an advantage over many of their peers.

Taking note of his target audience, Igor began to study the local web forums that Karl had made him aware of, looking to see what interested this newly wealthy sector of society that for the first time had spare disposable income. He saw they wanted to enjoy the fruits of their labour, aside from living in better accommodation, they liked to go shopping, and they pursued a wide range of hobbies in their leisure time.

Kiev plus a few other prime business hubs were beginning to show this emergent trend of a new entrepreneurial class, while the majority of their country remained in the doldrums. Igor keeping abreast of any new opportunities heard that the Stables were receiving an upturn in business from the very target group he'd been watching, so he went to speak with the owners. They had obviously always dealt with the higher levels of society, but as the purchase of Anna's horse proved, some of the old moneyed families had been falling on hard times.

The Stables were in need of a facelift, and yes they did want to add new facilities to show their new clients this was the place to come. Unfortunately like many others they were in a catch-22 situation when it came to financing improvements. Going to the bank to pay for any upgrades would see much of their increased revenue swallowed up in repayments on their long term loans. With Anna's 12th birthday approaching, Igor could not imagine other girls of her age would see the value in the piece of paper he and Ella were to give her, but then neither of his girls could be described as average. A new toy doll just wouldn't cut it.

Although Anna hadn't planned to go to the Stables on her birthday even with it falling on a Saturday, that was what her parents had arranged for some unknown reason.

She hadn't expected to see the staff crowded around to wish her a happy birthday either. The final surprise though was being asked into the main office to find she was now a 20% owner of the whole operation! Anna was really pleased with her present, whenever she went out in future to take part in gymkhanas she would in effect be representing her own company - well sort of.

Later that afternoon they had a small family party at home, with just Nana Olga, Gramps, Karl, and Eve's family. They joked how she must be a proper cowgirl now with her owning a guitar, a horse, and her own 'Ranch' in the form of the Stables. That reminded Anna of the picture set she'd done on that theme, with her idea to ask Andreas the Props manager about the guns and holsters for her brothers and for Victor.

She and Eve still had their regular weekly sleepovers, as they now had thirty sets of pussy pictures and a lesser set showing their boob development. They both now sported a light dusting of pubic hair that was visible, and the titty-fairy had sprinkled some of her magic dust on the two girls as their earlier triple A offerings were beginning to fill out a bit more noticeably. Without the Studio Anna would have bemoaned her slow development, but as it was she committed her budding evolution to record, some for imminent release to her fans, though many sets were banked away to create revenue from some later incarnation.

As the calender flipped over to November the round of family birthdays continued, first with Marta's fifteenth, then Peter's eighth, and Greg's ninth. Tipping off the family about the six-shooters she had bought, a few others contributed on the same cowboy theme.

The first of December marked 'Natasha's' 12th birthday, Anna's website alter-ego, and the name by which she was known halfway around the world by those who admired her funny creative sets of still or moving images.

Though it was difficult to arrange, Anna and Eve did get to meet up with Romko a few times after the summer break, twice in town just to catch up on news of his exploits, and one time at Eve's house for some more experimentation and teasing on their part.

Romko was still with his second girlfriend, something that had shocked and amazed his mates at school, even more so when he wouldn't tell them any details other than the fact the two of them had been seeing one another for the last few months.

Romko's parents also seemed surprised that he'd managed to keep a girlfriend for such a relatively long period of time. The girl in question had been impressed on their return to school finding he could be so tight lipped about the physical aspects of their relationship. The fact he hadn't boasted about playing with her breasts, something he'd been skilful in doing, which then lead on to more intimate forms of petting.

He was riding the crest of a wave, his girlfriend having let on he was known in the girls locker rooms as the 'silent stud' a reputation he enhanced when he at last demonstrated his pussy eating skills to a very surprised and happy girlfriend who was only too pleased to reciprocate, though unlike him she was unpractised in the art but willing to learn for such a considerate boyfriend. Eve and Anna received thanks on the end of his tongue, saying he could save all his boy-juice for when he got home to his girlfriend.

Eve suspected her cousin would no doubt pop the girl's cherry some time in the coming year, Anna agreeing with her evaluation, warned Romko to treat the girl with care, and to ensure he used protection when the time came.

His cousin and her friend were hard taskmasters, but he'd followed all their advice, the stuff he wore, the haircut, treating all girls with respect, and making sure his girl had a good time regardless of what they were doing. The biggest surprise was the rep he could get from just keeping quiet. He didn't boast, and he refused to answer any questions on his relationship other than to say where they had been when he took her out on dates.

Though a few of their friends had kissed the odd boy or two, neither Anna or Eve wanted a boyfriend. They had their experimental subject, and they'd learned as much as they cared to so far, not wishing to go any further with Romko, but they would keep in touch to follow his progress and claim all the credit.

The twelfth of December marked Karl's 18th birthday, he got a raise at work, a nice round of presents from those closest to him and an extra gift from Marta round at his place when his parents were at work. They spent most of the day in his room as she collected three loads, the first oral, the second in her pussy, the third in her well lubed back passage, in all giving him the message all three were his for life.

Chapter 79

With GRINS-2 well on track having nineteen units in occupation, the 23rd through to the 9th was declared a holiday for IMC staff with decent bonus payments all around ensuring all those with families would have time to get home, and have the necessary cash with which to celebrate handsomely.

Unlike the mean spirited employers of his past, Igor felt the Studio, and the maintenance company he'd worked for showed a far more more enlightened approach to staff relations. Therefore he felt the men and women who'd contributed to his success also deserved recognition for their labours, and he was sure it would be repaid through their loyalty.

The festive season was hard on Ella being so close to term, but between them the girls with help from Nana Olga took over the kitchen as she sat and supervised. Living a life of plenty, they couldn't have enjoyed the season without helping some of the local charities that fed and clothed the homeless during the winter. In truth they had done far more than they realised, with the establishment of the MMC and IMC a large number of youths and adults regained hope and self-respect through honest employment. Once again the trickle down effect touched more lives than they could imagine.

On the ninth of January the IMC crew returned to work, happy, rested and well fed from the fortnight of seasonal celebrations with friends and family... only Igor wasn't among them. Igor had driven off at four o'clock that morning to arrive at a smart maternity clinic which Ella had been attending for all her prenatal check-ups. He had driven rather swiftly, as after previously delivering four children, the doctors had pointed out it was unlikely to be an extended labour.

By eleven that morning the score was three, two!

They had a new healthy baby boy who they decided to name Mark. Ignoring school rules both sisters kept there phones on through class, though left them on silent, so discovered the news by lunchtime, whereas their brothers learned the news when Nana Olga came to collect them from school that afternoon. The boys were glad they got their wish that they didn't get another bossy sister.

Ella felt totally pampered, the bright modern clinic was warm and friendly, a far cry from the cold impersonal experience of any overworked State run medical facility.

They didn't want to push her out the door within hours of the birth either, as it was their policy she and the baby stay in for at least one night of rest and observation. Nana Olga and Gramps could hardly believe they were visiting a medical clinic, thinking it more akin to some sort of luxury hotel with nurses and doctors on tap.

Ella and baby Mark had their own private room with curtains, flowers, and a colourful crib set next to Ella's bed, it even had several comfy chairs for her host of visitors. Igor took a short time away from his wife's side, but that was only to visit the car dealer where he'd bought his new family sized people carrier in order to get their top of the range baby seat.

Upon leaving the maintenance company he'd needed to buy a vehicle of his own, so had purchased an upgraded version of the one he was already comfortable with, as having such large a family he needed all the seats he could get. He imagined that their next new purchase would be a baby buggy for the constant trips between their house and the old folk, it had been a wonder to see Olga knitting up a storm, making little outfits this past few months, while at the same time teaching both his girls how it was done.

At least the nursery was completed in plenty of time, shortly after the second coat of paint had dried, a few of the Studio guys turned up to add their own special touches of magic, with many popular cartoon characters and all manner of animals appearing on the walls.

They'd done very nicely from their sideline of working with IMC, at first refusing payment, but Igor insisted they take something for their trouble. Before the furniture went in it was photographed as an example of the quality workmanship by the craftsman IMC employed.

Anna was fascinated by her new baby brother, as she'd only been three and four years old herself when the other two were born. When her mum and Mark came home, there were literally hundreds of cards celebrating their new arrival from a really wide range of people. Thinking back if they'd still lived in the old town, her mum giving birth would have put a terrible strain on the family, in fact neither Anna or the others often gave much thought to their old life, concentrating on the present and the future.

With such a happy family tableau, they weren't to know the changes that would occur by the time their newest arrival was only fourteen months old......

Early 1996

On another continent. (At this point feel free to boo and hiss)

Here in the city among the nations movers and shakers, where all the power brokers made their deals two men met in an opulent office, all mahogany and leather, with heavy tomes never opened lining the bookcases. Ignoring the fine desk, they instead sat in comfortable chairs at a coffee table, the minions having been dismissed, one had a small fish emblem on his lapel. This man was well known having been a major advocate to have Darwinism struck off the school curriculum, to be replaced by creationism, amazing that someone so dumb could rise to such an exalted position of influence. The second man also spearheaded a lobby of political opinion, dinosaurs who despite the changes in the geopolitical situation were still hunting for reds under the beds. Both men were blinded by their inherent prejudices, unable to see anyone's world view that differed from their own.

These two blinkered individuals met on occasion to promote any government policy that coincided with their world views, but this meeting was called as someone in a TLA had seen a slow and steady rise of little payments from US citizens to former soviet regions, sums of only $10 to $30 at a time, but at tens of thousands of transactions each month.

So far investigations had shown that the payments were going to web based photographic companies producing picture sets of young girls, unfortunately what they were doing was not illegal where they were doing it. Both men had their own sexual peccadilloes that were never aired in public, but they didn't see why the plebs should enjoy such illicit pleasures, especially if it enriched the commie coffers.

After much debate they knew they didn't have a leg to stand on, officially their own government couldn't interfere with a legitimate business enterprise on foreign sovereign soil, or in this case a whole bunch of linked companies. They were seriously pissed after their third meeting, as each approach they made through various channels open to them had been shut down.

Nevertheless they decided to apply extreme pressure to the agency they had now chosen to head the assault, regardless of the fact they had no mandate, even under the best light these actions would be seen as questionable, but in truth this would be an illegal abuse of power. All their moves were made through intermediaries, third parties who were swayed by the bribes, blackmail, or the influence these men were able to wield anonymously.

Approaching the Spring of 1996

The Director of the agency couldn't believe all this crap, it was a damn shit storm and he was in the middle of it, the politico's were under pressure from the Christian right wing 'moral' lobby, so consequently they were on his ass. They'd conveniently ignored the fact it was outside his jurisdiction, in fact it wasn't even within theirs, but it was a hot potato, and they all wanted to sermonise, on how upright they were by jumping in with both feet.

He had passed it on to one of his department heads, a brown nosing bastard who wore a small fish on his lapel, the perfect example of the 'Peter Principle' promoted well beyond his abilities, and all his staff knew it, and every last one of them hated him.

Whatever came of this meddling, it was sure to end badly, and he would hopefully be shot of the little creep if he could be sacrificed to the media, and boy was he going to ensure this guy took the flack. The man who was a thorn in his side, had been inherited from the previous incumbent who'd sat in the Director's chair, before he had slipped in sideways to this post from another agency.

When this had first come across his desk, he had fired back responses that it was not within his remit, in fact no government department should become involved other than the Foreign Office. They could then send a strongly worded memo to their opposite number, who could then pass it down to the local law enforcement to check if anything could be done, that was the way these things were handled, but no, they wanted to play hard ball.

The main problem as he saw it, was the definition of child pornography – there wasn't one, not in international terms anyway, international law was a minefield, the age at which childhood ended and adult-hood began differed a lot, and was even unclear or undefined in some countries, then there was the issue of who was permitted to do what with whom. Personally he didn't give a rats ass, providing none of the people taking part objected it was nobody else's business, and they should keep their noses out.

These girls weren't being raped or molested for Christ's sake, they were just posing for the camera, and by all the evidence having fun to boot. The final kicker was that these kids he'd seen weren't being exploited, if anything the boot was on the other foot.

He eventually realised they seriously wanted to pursue this fools errand, so after delegating the job to his sycophantic patsy, he gathered together a few of his back-room team, guys he could rely on, to find out the facts, he wanted to know who was pushing, and what their agenda was. It was a combination of die hard commie haters who didn't want honest US dollars going to communist regions, and the 'save everyone so they can be like us' hard line Christian nuts. Deep joy, he was dealing with a bunch of people whose heads were jammed so far up their own backsides they were deaf to any opinion other than their own.

Back tracking he found the ball had been kicked about for some time prior to it coming to him; his department was the last resort, he was expected to run with it regardless of whether or not it made sense. His back-room staff, under the guise of another operation, using a secret budget that 'didn't exist' found him the facts, while the team in the glare of political oversight were still floundering around making a pigs breakfast of the whole damn situation, just as he expected they would.

The facts as he knew them were that this was a global operation based in the Ukraine who were marketing images and videos of young, and adolescent girls, despite the hype they weren't distributing pornography as he understood it, just artsy pictures of naked and semi-naked girls. The same damn stuff you'd see over the past few hundred years in any fancy art gallery or museum, perhaps these nutters didn't like it, as now this wasn't so exclusive.

The Studios were founded by a group of Ukrainian businessmen who saw a gap in the market, and using professional photographers they had over 1500 young models posing for them, for photo-sets on the various brand titles within the company network – all with the consent and knowledge of the girls parents.

The models were even openly recruited through TV and newspaper ads. The photo quality and professionalism far exceeded the offerings of other web operators, which lead to their blossoming success, so that was probably what disturbed the McCarthy set – the revenue going to a former communist state. His team estimated well over half a million images and hundreds of videos were available on a dozen or more websites that made up the group.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So here he was for the second time in an anonymous building whose ownership was untraceable, in front of a PC with a removable encrypted hard drive, having used a John Doe credit card with a common surname, funded by Uncle Sam via one or other of the many Machiavellian schemes that were running at any one time.

He opened the e-mail, it was a friendly letter of welcome, effusing the benefits of the top Platinum membership deal he had bought on the government dime, listing the websites that were available to him, with a user-name, and the passwords needed for each site.

Choosing the site name that had cropped up most often in the investigations, he began typing, the home page of the website showed the faces of some of their more popular models, and shots of some girls fully dressed in their colourful costumes, with an invitation to take a limited tour of the site. There were some teasing pictures of the girls undressing, all with their tits and pussies obscured, he clicked on the 'members only' icon, then on the next page there were log-on boxes for his user-name and password.

The first members only page had six choices in order to move on, - Meet the Models – Pictures – Videos – What's New – Members Forum – and finally a Talk with the Models Forum. Being methodical he clicked 'Meet the Models', here were pictures of each girl's face, with their name, age, and the number of photo-sets, a little winking star with their details indicated those girls who also had videos available. The girls were listed in order alphabetically, and as he scrolled down he passed several pictures having coloured frames with a flashing sign saying – 'New Model added this Month', after scrolling through several long pages he clicked on one of the new models at random.

The new page showed the same photo and writing as the previous section but he was now in the 'What's New' area where there was a bio of the featured girl on the screen.

Tamara – 11 years old, lives near the port of Odessa on the Black sea coast, she has two pet hamsters, she likes western pop music, reading and sport. She dreams of being a teacher when she grows up. So far the charming Tamara has one photo set for you that shows off our delightful young athlete – if you like her as much as we do, we'll be sure to invite her back.

Below relating to the girl's first appearance were three medium sized images from the set, two showing her disrobing, and naked in the third, she was a little on the thin side, hardly any development yet, but healthy, with a genuine smile. Moving on he clicked forwards to view the thumbnails of her set, about ninety pictures, with a few more keystrokes he then hit 'enter', the progress bar advanced as the full size set downloaded.

The Platinum membership deal included an allowance for a large number of downloads, then if you used that up, automatic billing kicked in so there was no delay waiting for additional picture-sets or videos, just click and go.

He now browsed through the full screen images, the background was obviously hand painted, and represented a lot of work, like a Broadway stage set for kids, the sort of illustrations you would see in classy children's books. The clothing the girl wore also looked custom made, high end not five and dime, real dressmakers had taken care to make a nice outfit, the props and accessories all told the same story.

It was hard to ignore she was a pretty little thing, but for the moment that wasn't what he was looking at, as he clicked back and forth through the images he occasionally enlarged a frame to focus on the information he was trying to extract. He returned to the 'What's New' section several times, only selecting girls with a single photo-set.

For those girls with multiple sets available he chose only their first set, downloading each one to study the high resolution pictures, until he had the data backing up his suspicions.

His next quarry were girls with many sets under their belt, it wasn't long before he confirmed his hunch, looking not so much at the girls faces that were highlighted in artful make-up, he concentrated on their skin tone elsewhere, checking out muscle mass, also he had made a minute study of the girls finger or toe nails to confirm the evidence.

When he followed up with a random bunch of the most popular girls who had been working with the Studio for more than two years it only strengthened the case.

Having been in the Intelligence community all his adult life, he knew the scorn with which they were generally held, often the word was regarded as an oxymoron, the public having no understanding how constant policy change, or infighting screwed the pooch.

The public had a woeful knowledge of the geopolitical situation outside their own borders, the Intelligence community, without the human intel they had back in the cold war, felt like they had one arm tied behind their back. Talking with friends in other agencies he was able to verify the true state of the economy in the Ukraine and the surrounding countries.

Not great to start with, since the split with mother Russia it had gone to hell in a hand cart, there were no safety nets, the level of poverty was appalling, to such an extent that nobody had even ballpark numbers for the unemployed, though there had been various aid agency reports about the destitute kids living on the streets of Kiev running into tens of thousands. He found that hard to believe until it had been confirmed by several more independent sources that he felt he could trust.

Along the way through his career he'd picked up more than he really wanted to know about pathology and medical issues, enough to know the white blemishes in the girls nails, and their overall skin condition denoted a poor diet, in some cases not that far from serious malnutrition. It was as plain as the nose on your face, if you cared to look, that set on set you could see the health of those girls returning, and in most cases it had been fairly rapid, leading him to believe they were receiving expert medical intervention.

With the ineptitude of the man running the official investigation, and the fact the guy had to report to him, he knew just where things stood, and what a balls-up he was making of the deal. He was slow clumsy and stupid, combined with the fact his staff were not at all motivated to put him in a good light, these were all coming together to hamper progress. In turn he had been able to sow seeds of disquiet about the man's abilities higher up the food chain, stating how at the time he'd had no choice who to put in charge due to lack of manpower, budget cuts, etc, how all his other department heads were working fit to bust.

He reckoned he had a two month window, possibly three, but he would work on two; all he needed to decide now, is what to do.

Despite the Jaws theme background music, perhaps not all the baddies are baddies?

Chapter 80

He was still at a loss what to do about the 'Studio' operation, he refused to think of it as a 'Child pornography Studio' because it clearly wasn't, but if his private, parallel investigation ever came to light he would never see the outside of Leavenworth. He needed to dig some more, get more data, looking for trends and patterns, it's what people like him did, and so far it was plain the network did not lack customers, month on month sales grew, he knew this from his back-room staff, and the folders they kept handing over on this case.

He knew the cities they operated in, they had pinned down the site locations of dozens of the outdoor photo-shoots, he even knew how the money flowed with details of merchant accounts and gateway links, American companies in this chain were making money hand over fist skimming their percentage, somehow not questioning the 'product' being sold.

Once again in the basement of the anonymous office building he logged on, his researches had already covered 'meeting the models', viewing a small fraction from their numerous picture-sets, and acquainting himself the Studio's 'What's New' section to see the latest recruits. On each visit he made there were new girls joining, but there was no 'churn' in that there was very little turnover of models, the stable just got bigger, a few of the older girls retired, but only rarely had he noted a girl dropped after producing only one or two sets. With such scant data it would be pure speculation on his part to suggest a reason they were no longer modelling.

The corollary of this data was the girls just kept coming back set after set, if those were forced smiles these girls were damned good actors, every one of them. He knew he was still shy of a lot of the facts, but the evidence he had, suggested three years ago through the summer and fall changes began to take place, not exponential but bucking the trend, a kink in the curve, possibly some guy on the management team, a guy who made things happen. From around that time new production styles were introduced, that was also when they came up with girls who could speak English, none of the other players came close, word was many had given up trying to enter a market that was already cornered.

Tapping the keys he checked out the videos, going back through the archives month by month stopping when he found a few dated just prior to the changes, and started to down load en-mass. Watching the progress bars he sat with a lunch pail and coffee flask, this was not how people envisaged men of his rank, they thought of fat cats enjoying five star dining seven days a week. This was more basic than his rookie days on stakeout.

“Hello my name is Katya, I am thirteen years old, I am going to dance for you.”

That was as far as it went, the rest was dancing, but it was the first time English was used in their videos, hardly ground breaking, that was dated more than two months before the first official offering that came out in the second week of August. He poured himself another coffee, then took a turn round the room to stretch while the file downloaded.

He looked at the title on the web page, and read the blurb – then pressed play.

Natasha makes cup cakes.

“Hello my name is Natasha, I am ten years old, today I am making some cakes.

They are for my friends, we are going to have a sleepover”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I had better put these cakes in a tin, or my pussy will want them, she just loves cream as much as I do.”

“Well I must go and have a bath now and get ready for the sleepover, it's some of the girls from the Studio – bye for now.”

The scene closed as she waved and blew a kiss towards the camera.

He was stunned, for a ten year old she was one hot cookie, he couldn't believe he just thought that, but whichever way you cut it, it was true, she came across as sparkling and vivacious, a cheeky twinkle in her eye as she spoke with that cute accent. He played it again, twice, catching all of the subtle and not so subtle innuendo and double entendres.

The same girl was featured in the company's second English video this time with another girl, he watched this one through several times as well, first just to see how it panned out, then on subsequent viewings to elicit what clues he could find using step and freeze frame to check on details of the apartment where the video was made. It looked to be the same location, possibly even where the girl lived, he could see food in the pet bowls, there were some US teen magazines and books, also some bi-lingual dictionaries on show, and boy band CDs. Going through each time he picked out more detail, horse riding hat and crop, plus some rosettes along with a glimpse of a framed photo of the girl on horseback, in all he was still undecided if was real or some form of set dressing.

He went back to checking the website, navigating his way to that models home page.

13 year old Natasha has been a firm favourite with our members right from the beginning, from her home on the Black sea coast she loves to travel, but wishes she could take her pets with her, she has a dog and two cats. Since learning English she has enjoyed making videos for her fans, and taking part in the exclusive 'Talk to the models forum' where she often sparks some lively debate. Despite her busy lifestyle, she still finds time to compete in the occasional gymkhana on her horse Trigger. Natasha has appeared in many photo sets and videos by herself, and with her various friends at the Studio.

He was intrigued by a link that followed regarding language lessons, so he clicked it.

Natasha was among the first of our models to see the benefit of learning to talk to the majority of our members in their own language, her pioneering new style of video production encouraging other models to follow her lead. Today many of our younger girls have found sponsors willing to help fund the start of their education in this respect, should you wish to help, see the list below of models wishing to take English lessons. Choose the girl you would like to support, and fill in the amount you wish to be billed to your account.

Of all the brass balls, these guys had chutzpah, thinking up new ways to dip the pockets of their members, but it did make him chuckle all the same.

It wasn't easy for a man of his seniority, but as often as he could he disappeared off to his bolt hole to continue his research, all the same he realised that time was marching on, so if he were to instigate some independent action it would need to be soon.

Calling in his deputy he explained he was taking off for the next seven to ten days, for a much needed and overdue break, and not to contact him unless one of the major investigations he had listed was reaching a conclusion. His colleague agreed it was about time, telling him to go out and have fun hunting or fishing or whatever; thanking his number two, he admitted nothing that physical was in his plans, what he didn't add, was that he would be hunting, but it was facts he was seeking, not raccoon or bobcat.

It was when he got up to visit the can he realised how long he had been sat in front of the screens, one constantly logged on to the modelling website, the second machine also via a chain of proxies back to his tame black-hat, on his back room staff. After splashing water on his face, he looked to see what snacks he had left, his doctor would not approve.

Back at the table he reviewed his notes, then began to adjust his mindset, what if he were running one of these Studios, what would be his limitations or advantages?

OK, start with the raw product – the girls, mostly they started out in poor shape, but on the other hand not too bad, so did they begin to look after the girls welfare before they even started working? If that were the case, and it looked like it was, what else did it say about the guys running this show? He was now aware there were scores if not hundreds of other pay sites out there, and a good deal of those were low rent operators, with dirty dishevelled girls, some bordering on anorexic, clearly chalk and cheese.

Summing it up the girls looked happy, healthy, and content, as they continued to work long term for the Studio, they were also getting an education if all the text books were anything to go by, and they were learning another language. They were investing in these girls in so many ways it stood to reason they, or their families were also being well looked after financially.

Although he had extracted clues from only a small fraction of the site's catalogue of video and photographic sets, he felt the pressure to check out his last two avenues of investigation from the main website itself. His first foray was the 'Members Forum', which proved quiet an education in itself, from the phrasing and idioms used, it looked to have a large American contingent, ranging from barely literate red-neck, through to well educated erudite professionals. He chose a name they might recognise but it was unlikely any of them would would see the full significance unless they were experts on ancient Rome.

'Janus', the god who faced both ways, that much they might know, a god often carved at doorways or ceremonial archways called Jani, by which armies left to do battle, fittingly one of the most famous was the 'Janus Germinus' on the north side of the Forum in Rome.

Mostly he was a lurker at the Forum, an observer occasionally instigating a train of discussion or bending a current thread if he thought useful information might be gleaned from any long term members who frequented the Forum. He soon found this had a low yield, so went trolling backwards through the history of discussion threads, at first just taking random jumps, until something caught his radar. He was unsure in the beginning but he kept digging in his methodical way, eventually the pattern began to resolve itself.

Someone, and he was sure it was one person, due to the way they worded their entries, having English as a second language, was writing in the Forum using three separate nick-names, but as each member account could only be linked to one nickname it had to be someone with account privileges, ergo it was a staff member at the Studio.

In a moment of clarity the fog lifted, this insider was seeding the Forum for marketing data, checking pre-emptively whether certain themes would be popular among their members, prior to launching new projects. The more he delved into the Studio, the more impressed he became, having a grudging respect for such a well run operation, but now he was down to his final link, the 'Talk with the Models Forum' wondering what new information could be ascertained by looking at a dialogue between members and the respondents who were supposedly, some of the models appearing on the site.

Though the Studio network had been in existence for a little over six years it had only come to the attention of two powerful lobby groups over the past eighteen months, when they joined forces, their combined clout pushed the agenda to take action. Everyone both pro and anti were so focused on the girls they couldn't see the wood for the trees, even the official group within his agency lacked the leadership to concentrate on the essentials.

His Platinum status gave him access to this additional feature of the site, soon he was on the introductory page, where he faced the rules of conduct to participate in the Forum.

Rules and guidelines for members to observe using the - 'Talk to the Models Forum'

General notes.

Due to the popularity of this exclusive service, many of our upcoming young stars have a strong desire to take part, but English is not a common option in their usual educational curriculum. For this reason these young girls are seeking private tuition in order to become proficient enough to join their friends in talking with you all in the near future.

If you wish to help them click the link below for more details.

This Forum provides a further educational experience for the girls, being able to converse with their fans from all around the world. A code of conduct is necessary to ensure that no comments that may be considered in any way offensive, or of an inappropriate nature appear on the forum.

1.

Please bear in mind the tender age of our models, and that English is new to them.

2.

Members should at all times be well-mannered and polite.

3.

Do not use swear words, slang, derogatory terms, or any sexual terms or innuendo.

4.

Please keep your exchanges brief, because the girls are reading, what is to them a foreign language in an unfamiliar alphabet also it will give others a chance to join in.

5.

Please do not criticize the girls in open forum, as this could be embarrassing for them, but our models do find constructive comments are always helpful.

6.

You may not ask questions about details of a models home or school location.

7.

You may not ask to meet, phone or write letters to the models.

8.

You should not ask questions of a personal nature, nor about their home life.

9.

It is permissible to talk of a models hobbies, interests or ambitions.

10.

It is also permissible to make suggestions for future photo or video shoots.

Please note that the forum administrator or any of the models have the authority to ban any member temporarily or permanently for infractions of the rules and guidelines, so take note of any warnings in this respect.

Please click on the button below to show you have read, and agree to the terms above.

He was now confronted by a new page, that had a considerably different feel to those parts of the site he had seen so far, there was a time table covering the next seven days.

It was divided into time bands of two or three hours, three of those ran every day the others only at weekends or holidays, each shift was named either relating to the girl's day or to the time zone it best coincided with.

The three regular shifts were 'Models for breakfast' which was 06:00 to 08:00 Ukraine time, which was 23:00 to 01:00 EST, a session from 17:00 to 20:00 named 'After school worldwide chat' was 10:00 to 13:00 EST, while the third was the next adjoining three hour time slot which they called 'Models at bedtime'. At weekends and on some weekdays their was a two hour window obviously for girls who were early risers, called 'Early birds' in the slot prior their regular breakfast chat, which would catch all of the US from mid to late evening dependent on time zone.

A three hour time slot catching 22:00 to 01:00 PST was called 'West coast late night surfer girls', whereas the 07:00 to 10:00 EST spot was called 'Breakfast Bagels with EST'.

There was a little chart showing how each of the time the zones related to GMT and the time in the Ukraine, next to the roster of girls taking part that week.

He thought it looked like a kids school timetable – yes that's exactly what it was, these girls were running it themselves, lower down on the same page was a section where they were posting excuse notes for sessions they would miss, giving the reason, and the name of the girl that would substitute for them. Can't be there because I'm off to buy a puppy; because I'm going to a concert; because I'm going flying that day, and so on, he wondered which were real, and which were the girls having a laugh.

From his experience with the other Forum he decided to page back as far as he could and work his way forwards to the current posts, by then he would have a better idea what happened on this Forum. They held records going back just over five weeks, which would enable someone to trace back on a thread they had missed while on vacation.

There was an exclusivity from the price alone, which limited the number of members who would participate, and he saw that about sixty or more girls were regulars, with several others who admitted they were novices, asking the members to be patient, and forgive the errors they made, as they were still learning English.

Surprisingly for a Forum based on the girls having learned English, Russian and other European languages were also in evidence, in some cases one or other of the girls were translating for the US audience to follow, on others, a multi-way discussion took place where each wrote in their mother tongue without translators. He had majored in European languages and was fluent in Russian, and could get by with most the other entries so the whole gamut of threads was available to him, regardless of which girls were hosting.

It was plain the members taking part in this Forum demonstrated a higher educational bent than the general Forum, obviously coming from a very select socio-economic group, proving their inventiveness in circumventing the rules, encouraging the girls to let on more than they were supposed to, but without getting themselves banned in the process. The girls seemed to enjoy this game of cat and mouse, sparring with the friendly protagonists.

Each time he encountered a new girl taking part in the Forum he would check back to that girl's home page, putting a face, age, and bio to the participant, from this cross reference he found the hobbies and interests they spoke of matched the printed details. There were enough instances to corroborate that they were talking about sports or hobbies that they had a real knowledge about, proving they hadn't just read a book, or watched it on TV.

He came across a conversation between one girl who was asking about the relative merits of the two recognised scuba diving qualifications, something too esoteric unless you had a genuine interest in the sport, two other girls were in knowledgeable discourse with some members on the topic of horse riding. Other hobbies included in their chats were sailing, photography, camping, canoeing, and gymnastics, lending weight to his earlier conclusion that the girls and their families were being well paid. They couldn't be taking part in these activities needing travel or equipment, unless their families had both spare cash and the leisure time in which to pursue those interests.

The further he moved forwards through the threads, the more convinced he became that the decision to persecute and prosecute the parent company these girls worked for was an anathema to all he believed in. This devastatingly poor country had found a product they could export, without doing harm to it's environment or it's people, and from a sustainable resource, unlike so many other poor countries who often sacrificed the health of their citizens, and the local environment to chase short term gains.

From his latest back-room figures fifteen hundred girls, and their families, plus the three to four hundred people working directly for the Studio network, would overnight become part of the unemployed masses. That was without taking into account the loss of the beneficial trickle down effect all these people had on the local traders where they lived, in all this so called 'rescue mission' to protect these girls would be a chronic disaster for all involved.

Having made his decision, it was now time to choose a course of action to help these people without dropping himself in it, he needed to speak with someone at the Studio and get them to believe him, that they needed to be prepared for the shit-storm headed their way. He painstakingly followed each thread in the Forum slowly edging forwards to catch up in real time on current topics, until he saw a possibility for a covert means of sending a message which would not be seen by anyone from the agency, who might be monitoring site traffic on either of the forums.

Leaving his bunker he went to the nearest convenience store, knowing it would look odd him choosing magazines for teen girls, he spoke to the clerk about a visit from his teenage nieces, and which magazines did she recommend to keep them amused. Of course he chose the ones he had repeatedly seen in the backgrounds of many videos and picture sets, having noted since they appeared three years ago they remained popular with many of the models, and it was their recent mention in the Forum that had prompted the idea.

Back at his desk he checked through his haul, doubting if the indigenous US audience would buy two or more of these each week, but it appeared the Studio girls did, as they were using them primarily as a teaching aid. As expected each had their own agony aunt column, which often ended with an obscure and anonymous reply to a letter that they had chosen not to openly publish, but nevertheless to pass on advice to that correspondent.

Using the machine chained through several proxies to his tame black-hat, on his back room staff he sent a message asking for the following message to be placed at the end of the column in each of the titles he had listed.

'To Natasha in K, you urgently need to get an older colleague to speak to Janus about the safety of your art Studio.'

The tame geek read through the directors message twice, realising it must be associated with the very unofficial ongoing scheme regarding those foreign modelling websites, he felt sorry for those young kids knowing they could only be harmed because the agency was meddling in matters that didn't concern them. If the Director was trying to warn them he was all for helping that cause.

Hacking each of the magazines was child's play, then he checked to find the date of final deadlines on each prior to printing, then set automatic routines in place to add the rouge additional text in the appropriate locations by hacking the internal networks of those companies that did the printing. If it were ever raised at one of the publishers there would be a round robin of blame, as to who was sending private messages.

Having made his first positive step it was now a waiting game, but as his wily black hat had told him the date when the magazines were likely to turn up at the target location, proving the man was in the loop as to what he was trying to achieve.

Luck was on his side as a call from his deputy about a sudden breakthrough on another case gave him the excuse for an immediate return to the office, he would postpone the remainder of the leave he had arranged until he got a bite from the bait he had laid that was yet to arrive on scene. People noticed both up and down the food chain when the Director gave up his vacation time to rush back when an investigation reached a critical point, that suited his purposes as it showed he was conscientious in keeping his eye on all the balls up in the air.

Meanwhile he reduced his basement visits to coincide with times either Natasha, Laura, or Tatiana were scheduled on the 'Models for breakfast' slot or sometimes the 'After school worldwide chat' which ran from 10:00 to 13:00 EST. He concentrated on building a rapport with the three girls and joined in chatting with whichever other girls shared their shifts.

The two other girls selected were chosen as they were among the popular models of long standing, and he had seen from their comments they were avid readers of the American publications for teenage girls. A day or two before he expected his message to reach their local news stands he brought up the subject of teen magazines asking Natasha if she thought the problem page stories were real or made up. This sparked some lively debate between all those taking part as they could discuss subjects getting close to the knuckle, without pushing too far.

Greg was first to the door that morning as his US comics had been delivered along with all the stupid girl magazines his big sisters liked to read, he gathered them all up to take to the breakfast table. For some reason they didn't always turn up on the same day, this was a good day, as Friday was a holiday off school, so they had a long weekend, and as he got there first he could choose which of the comics he wanted to read, so Peter would have to wait. He knew Anna did stuff on her computer in her room two or three mornings a week so maybe Marta would get first choice on the girls stuff.

They sometimes played word games at breakfast speaking all in English to help mum and dad to catch up learning, or they would alternate between English, Ukrainian and Russian, though Marta had said they should add some others like Italian or German.

He and Peter had said it wasn't fair to do German as they had another different alphabet, and they thought two alphabets was enough, he was glad their dad agreed with them.

Anna came down to a somewhat less hurried breakfast than usual, thinking as they had a long weekend that she could perhaps go to the stables as she had not gone last weekend and Silver would wonder where she was, though in her Forum she always called her horse Trigger as a joke. A call on her mobile interrupted Anna's breakfast, a girl she had been on shift with a couple of days ago asked if Anna had got any of her US teen magazines that morning as there was a strange entry at the end of the agony aunts column, which she thought odd considering they spoke to a Forum member of the same name about agony aunt columns only two days ago.

Sorting through she found the right one and flipped through to find the page.

'To Natasha in K, you urgently need to get an older colleague to speak to Janus about the safety of your art Studio.'

She felt a sudden chill, this was too weird, she looked again, it still said the same thing, the boys were too engrossed in the latest adventures of their favourite comic-book heros to notice Anna's reaction but Marta saw something had spooked Anna. Anna leaving her breakfast said she was going back to her room to do some research, so Marta said she would clear up and follow her shortly.

When Marta showed up clutching the remainder of their magazines Anna spoke about the call, and showed her the column, then on the laptop paged back through the threads to earlier that week, where she and another girl had been talking with some members about the teen magazines that they read. Janus had been the person who had brought the subject up, mentioning some of the titles they read, and nudged the conversation in the direction of the agony aunt columns.

Marta looked back and forth through the conversation, then again at the magazine, could it be just a strange coincidence, or was that a message aimed squarely at the Studio?

It could be Natasha in Kansas, or some other place in the states, it didn't have to be Kiev, but it,.... Anna's phone stopped that thought. Anna looked very pale after a short confusing conversation with another of the models, as she put the phone down, she grabbed at the other magazines searching for a different title. The same message!

Going back to the screen she found a third periodical named by Janus, another column and again the same message, they looked at the remaining three, six out of six!

“What do we do Marta?”

“Speak to Ivan, I'm not even sure if it's supposed to be a threat or a warning, but what it says is right – we need to speak to our older colleagues.”

An extended weekend was reason for many out of town girls to make the trek, some would have left straight after school Thursday, or even lunchtime to make the most of the chance, so the Studio would be running full tilt. Because of this the sisters arrival was unexpected as local city models would consider it unfair to the girls travelling so far, but then again the 'Goose sisters' were there often as not for something other than Anna's photo-shoots.

They had gained the moniker a few years ago, and with the rise of the Studio and the network as a whole it had stuck fast, the girls realising it was both a term of endearment and a recognition of their skills. Passing through reception Marta called to the girl to warn Ivan they were coming, and to clear his desk, they got an odd look, but she made the call.

Putting the phone down Ivan was puzzled, he shouted to Tanya the Geese were coming and to get drinks for them, and to hold his calls for now as the receptionist had been alarmed by the girls odd behaviour. Soon he was staring at the six magazines and the log of the Models Forum pondering the who, how, and why of the message, calling Tanya he asked her to get Dmitri, Alina, Boris and all the white boards to the small conference room ASAP or sooner.

When the cast were assembled, Ivan gave a chronology of events, and they each had one of the magazines in front of them with the message.

'To Natasha in K, you urgently need to get an older colleague to speak to Janus about the safety of your art Studio.'

“From the evidence it would appear this Janus is a member on our site, and frequents the Model Forum, so the question is; is this a prank, a threat, or a warning?”

Everybody looked from Ivan to their personal laptops that they had brought with them, now plugged into the network ports and power built into the table. The comments started with Alina who had once been with marketing and sales, “He's a recent member, just over six weeks, strange download patterns, and for someone with Platinum membership he didn't make use of the Model Forum until three weeks ago.”

Dmitri took over after he found the file references that Alina had called out, and used some of his IT admin magic to display the member profile history logs on the large screen at the head of the table. A burst of initial picture downloads, then a gap then another odd sampling, next was a rash of movie files, followed by more odd random hits, very atypical behaviour.

Boris who had looked most uncomfortable outside of his normal domain, was now a flurry of activity, ignoring those around him muttering to himself, he suddenly looked up as if surprised to see the faces around him. “Janus is a ghost!” Seeing the puzzled looks he went on, “The man who calls himself Janus, doesn't exist, the credit card he uses is for a boy that died thirty years ago when only four months old, his zip code is an empty patch of desert, and he connects to the web via a chain of proxies so long he could be sitting in the room next door or somewhere in China.”

“Is there any way you could you be more specific, can we find out the who, how, and why of the situation?” asked Ivan.

“My best guess for now is our ghost is in fact a spook from one of the US agencies based in Virginia, that's about all the who and where I can give you for now, I need to get back to my own space to work on this. There are some serious people in my community I need to leave messages for.” With that he was up and gone.

Dmitri stepped in again stating the majority of his log on activity would seem to confirm the hypothesises that Janus did live in the EST zone, and he was fairly sure that they were dealing with an individual not a team, as even when his activities were at there most intense there were still sleep breaks.

Three hours later they were running out of white boards, but now they could graphically see the records and time line of his Studio downloads, and more recently his interaction first with the members Forum, then latterly with the Models Forum. Alina was able to add that he had shown a strong preference to visit the Forum when Natasha, Laura, or Tatiana were on morning shift and sometimes when they were on the after school shift.

Anna was feeling dejected as if this was somehow her fault, until Marta gave her half the magazines, explaining what she was looking for, Marta made notes then checked back to the Forum time stamps.

Marta now added her thoughts, “In the US these magazines were all printed and in the shops when Janus raised the subject on the Forum, and we get the stuff from the same print run as they're in English not locally translated reprints as they often have in some countries. So every magazine printed everywhere all had the same message, it couldn't have been added just for Kiev, as they were already on their way here by then, so he must have gone through the publishers to add the message. Do you think Boris could use that as a lead?”

Dmitri suggested they go ask him to chase the lead saying how he spent too much time alone in his cell, the girls went via the canteen for some snacks to go, as they were convinced Boris forgot to eat half the time. They saw Yana and waved, their friends mum had now risen from kitchen assistant, to assistant cook, so different from the first time they met. Not knowing what he would like they got a wide variety, after all they could nibble what he didn't eat.

At the door to the inner sanctum they were nervous only ever having visited once before, Marta knocked as Anna was carrying the loaded tray, the door opened a little and he asked what they wanted.

“I've brought you a tray of snacks.”

“And I've brought you some big new juicy leads to our man.”

With a strange lopsided grin he stepped aside to allow them in, closing and bolting the door behind them, saying to Marta, “I already have 'your' man!”

Chapter 81 and the Epilogue

“Karl?!”

“Hi Marta, Anna.”

The room now held two chairs, and Karl was in one of them, talking as they ate, the chairs were relinquished to the girls, both men ate, it was just that Boris needed reminding now and then. Several months before Boris had seen the potential in the youngster and had decided to train him up, it being a long hard road to become a master of the darker arts of the Cyber world. One test Boris had set, was that Karl could tell nobody about the branch in the path of his training, so he was pleased with the genuine surprise Marta had shown, if the lad hadn't boasted to his girlfriend that was a good sign.

He had been amused himself by recently emerging stories of Bletchley Park the UK code breaking centre during the second world war, now the curtain had been lifted and people were able to talk about it, an elderly married couple discovered they had both worked at the site in different locations, but neither had ever told their partner what they had done during the war. His personal maxim was that anything two people knew wasn't a secret.

After eating Marta talked about the six titles, had Janus just asked nicely or had he hacked into the publishers or printers to add his message, she handed over the magazines so that the wizard and his apprentice could check now they were back on their respective thrones. The girls watched as the two men tapped away at their keyboards, Karl a little hesitant on occasion, asking advice from the master. Over two years on he could read Marta's face a little better, “I'm not asking because I don't know how to get in, I'm asking because I need to be very careful to leave no trace I was ever there.”

Looking across the several screens that were active Marta vaguely recognised this as the stuff that was 'behind' the web pages, or site networks, as he'd explained to her before, but Karl looked to be typing something more like advanced algebra than anything else.

“Well would you look at that, lazy lazy sod, excuse me ladies, but I've just found the back-door into this publishers internal network, and I recognise the footprints, and yes there are the time stamps, and there is the code he added. The changes were timed so that the page only updated just prior to printing so that no one would see it until it was too late.”

It was still gobbledygook to the girls but Boris stepped Karl through his discovery, then set him the task of finding a similar issue on the other site, for only two printing companies were responsible for printing all the titles. Now he knew what to look for Karl soon located the second hack, talking through it to show he had been paying attention.

Boris said that now Karl had been 'outed' there was no point in keeping the secret any longer, assuaging the lad's worries others in the department would feel he had trodden on anyone's toes. He went on to say nobody else in the department had the temperament to take on the task, therefore they wouldn't be upset by Karl stepping up to take on the opportunity of training in the arts of site security. Marta was very proud of her boyfriend, in that he was still in his teens, but progressing so rapidly within his chosen profession.

“Knowledge is power, although I know this man who works for Janus, it is something to store away, a possible bargaining chip at some future date, though I don't know his real name, I do know the pseudonyms he uses in the various technical forums within our own trade. Eventually there will come a time when my knowing who he works for, will give me leverage, so I will bide my time.”

The two hackers then breached the internal networks of each magazine, though Karl's English was not yet up to the standard of Marta's, he could read it well enough to find that there were disputes between people as to who on the staff was responsible for placing unauthorised additions in their magazines. These debates soon blew over as they each had the deadline of the following issue to consider.

They all trooped off to the conference room, this time with Karl joining them, the fact that Ivan acknowledged Boris had brought his new partner in crime, proved he knew about the trainee, but as Boris was quick to point out, if people didn't know you had broken-in then who was to say any crime had ever occurred. Getting down to business they pooled their current findings about the site member known as Janus.

He was likely very high up in one of the agencies based in Virginia, he also had access to people with good computer skills, and a fairly good if lazy hacker. He was probably using black-ops funding on a John Doe I.D. and another revealing detail was that apart from weekends and one recent intense period the majority of his online contact time had been outside the office hours that might be expected of an agency executive. From all the evidence they now had, it was concluded that the man was running a parallel though unofficial probe alongside a sanctioned investigation, which they found quite disturbing.

If their superstition was correct they needed to be prepared for any attack, but at the same time maintain an air of normality, so as not to make any watchers aware they had a heads-up on the situation. This raised the question of why Janus was doing parallel private research into their Studio's operations, and did that include an interest in the entire Studio network?

They talked of the semantics and nature of the posted message, due to it's placement he was restricted in what he could say, but the method of communication was well thought out and below the radar of any other people taking an undue interest in the Studio.

The allusions of the man's chosen name was not lost on either Ivan or Dmitri, both well travelled and well educated men, Dmitri bringing up the 'Janus Germinus' used in Roman times for armies about to depart on missions of conquest.

It was decided the man must be using a 'safe' computer outside of his office environment in order to take part in the Forum, therefore they would use a simple method to catch his attention next time he logged onto the site. Whenever a member's subscription expired or if a persons log-in details were compromised they were redirected to the appropriate screen to make the user aware of the issue. They would produce a personalised message activated by his log on, that would give contact details so they could communicate using encrypted methods of messaging.

Dmitri, Boris, and Karl left immediately to initiate their scheme, realising due to the time differential, he may be aware that his message had been seen by now, but he was unlikely to log-on prior to what would for them be early the following morning.

Late Friday night he was anxious to log-on, eager to find if his message had yet been discovered and understood, the girls weekend timetables were often subject to change, and he wanted to check if Natasha was still scheduled for her Sunday breakfast shift, which for him would mean a wait of another 24 hours.

User-name *********

Password ********* Enter

He was momentarily startled, not the expected welcome to the members home screen.

“Hello Janus,

Welcome to the site, we received your message, we are always concerned about matters of staff safety, especially anything that may impact upon the well-being of our models.

I will use the name Penates, please contact me using the details shown below, as I am aware a man of your position would be familiar with PGP.”

The details mentioned included the 'public encryption key' for Penates as well as other details so they could communicate without needing to involve the Studio website.

PGP stood for 'pretty good privacy' a method whereby people who had never met could still converse if they had the other persons public encryption key, you sent the message encrypted with that half of the key but only the recipient with the second part of the key would be able to open the message. You made available your public key, and then only you could open the return message. Because they were virtually impossible to crack the various government agencies had tried to outlaw their use.

He was dealing with a smart cookie here, this Penates was sending a message that he knew he was dealing with an agency insider. Racking his brain, he tried to recall the name the man was using – then it came to him, a deity of the home with a particular reference to food. Romans prayed or made offerings to Penates that they should have enough to eat. His opposite number was showing he could also send a subtle message.

Doing a copy/paste on the details he logged off to compose his message.

“Hi Penates,

I'm just a concerned citizen, though you may speculate as to who I am, and I likewise about you, let's leave that aside. There are pressures at work that are forcing certain TLA's to poke into your affairs, though incompetent hands are on the wheel, the investigation will come to fruition within the next four to eight weeks, then begin to squeeze and coerce your local regional law enforcement agencies to take action against your entire Studio network.

Having done my own investigations, I couldn't in all good conscience allow this to go down without giving you a warning, as I have satisfied myself the girls on your site suffer from no form of abuse or coercion. All indications are to the contrary, in that their health, their standard of living, and their education, are all improved from being associated with your Studio network. I wish that I had been in a position to derail this witch hunt, but religious and political forces at work would not be denied, they would push this through even if they had gold plated proof that the girls involved would suffer because of their actions.

If you have any questions you think I may be able to help with, ask away, for my part I will try to keep you appraised of the moves against you.

Good luck - Janus.”

A dialogue had been established, and it seemed they had a friendly mole within the enemy camp, and had now learned of a bunch of people hell bent on “doing the right thing” to help these poor unfortunate girls, but in doing their good deed the girls lives would be left in tatters.

Eschewing phone, e-mail or any other form of electronic communication sealed notes were sent by trusted employees to the Directors and Studio managers for a number of meetings to be arranged. They were to consider themselves on a war footing, but taking care not to alert anyone who could be watching that anything was amiss, it must appear like business as normal on all fronts while countermeasures were put in place.

Boris and Karl worked long hours, though with Marta feeding them Boris had never eaten so well, as the two sisters learned a whole new vocabulary of techie terms as the two armies prepared for battle. It helped that the TLA didn't know their plans were busted, so they blundered along thinking they had the element of surprise.

With each passing day new protocols were instigated for the coming storm, so when the shit hit the fan their shields would be in place, they were aiming for a situation with zero casualties, but it seemed very unlikely they would all dodge the bullet.

At each location run by the network, the staff had been made aware of the trouble looming on the horizon, and the procedures to follow when the time came.

A council of war met each day to assess the current threat, and to disseminate information to every part of the network. Boris and his more junior colleagues in the satellite branches of the network had been hitting the ships chandlers along the coast buying supplies not normally associated with data processing, and had made many strange requests for odd pieces of equipment.

When it got to the point when they learned the raids were only a week or so ahead letters were sent out to all the families of their models, in a way to still keep the news under the radar. An outer envelope was sent enclosing a letter and a smaller sealed envelope that was marked with a severe warning it was not to be opened unless instructions were received stating otherwise.

The outer letter gave the details:-

Dear ********

The Studio values your daughter's services as a model, and we hope to maintain our current arrangements, but at present we are having some problems with people who do not approve the style and content of our websites. We are hoping to resolve these issues so that all our models will remain unaffected, but should you receive word from us that the problem has escalated then further instructions are enclosed in the sealed envelope.

DO NOT OPEN that envelope unless instructed to do so or it will be deemed a breech of contract and we will sever our ties with you. The unopened envelopes will be collected up later should this prove to be an unwarranted alarm. We thank you in advance for your assistance, and ask that you do not call us during the following ten days, as we may experience some communications difficulties during this time.

The sealed letter held a somewhat more stark message:-

Dear ********

ONLY if you have received instructions to read this letter should you continue.

If you have received instructions to read this note then the situation has escalated.

The Studio network is under attack from foreign intelligence agencies who are flouting international law, and forcing our own government to act against us. For your own safety we advise you to destroy any paperwork relating to the Studio, or about child modelling, if we can at a later time continue to operate, we will contact you.

This unfortunate situation is outside of our control, we wish you and your daughter well for the future, in the hope we may resume our business relationship. If the forces ranged against us should contact you in order to join their cause to destroy us, I hope we can from our past association, rely upon your support. We suspect they plan to pressure the families of our models to become turncoats, and forget the fair way we have treated them over the years. Remember they may thank you for your help, but they will not pay your bills, or look to your future welfare.

Our good wishes and prayers go out to all our girls and their families at this time.

Bad news arrived from Janus that operatives were booked on a flight to the Ukraine to oversee the take-down, from the names he had provided Boris was able to hack details and photographs of the seven spooks. It was now only a matter of days.

Cogs turned and the alert level rose a notch, digital media was their stock in trade, that and vast amounts of data, data with names and details, that was silently syphoned away.

Ivan didn't show the stress but he felt it, a heavy weight pressing him down, the council of war was in almost constant session, both Geese sat in, neither attending school until this ended one way or another. He was glad, over two years now and Marta still had the power to surprise him, her latest quote, - “I think outside the box, boxes are for cornflakes.”

Anna wouldn't leave, she idolised her big sister, but that went both ways, and that little firebrand could always raise a laugh to break the tension; they needed something.

Boris reported that attempts to hack their site took a spike then backed off when all they got for their troubles was a rather nasty worm, meaning the machines their enemy had used would need some serious TLC to get back into use. When he handed out hard copy pictures of the visitors flying in Marta joined in the proceedings.

Her latest gift from Karl had been the collected works of Sherlock Holmes, in English of course, which brought to mind a feature of many stories in the book – “The Baker Street Irregulars”, street urchins of 1800's London who ran his errands and hung about street corners ignored as part of the street scene, as they collected information for their master. Since back to the time of her father's first property deal she had maintained links on the street, doing what she could, running pet projects, though many were now run by those original boys from that first crew.

Ivan admired Marta's latest egg, the airport, police headquarters, the top two or three hotels, the roads leading to their own complex, plus a few targets others had chipped in.

Forty, fifty, eighty kids, it didn't matter, they would be grateful for the employment, and they would be as invisible as the 'Irregulars' in 19th century London, just more destitute kids. A remote Command HQ to where some of them would evacuate had a skeleton crew, but intel on the operation was all routed via there, when the storm came the plugs would be pulled, and wouldn't you just know it, - records would vanish at the phone company.

As in so many bureaucratic States graft and backhanders oiled the wheels, just a little quid-pro-quo and a few favours called in; and the Studio could call in a hell of a lot of markers. The volume of business the Studio created among a vast plethora of suppliers and those in the service sector meant they had a vast army of friends.

Marta and Anna were on a mission, armed only with their trusty backpacks and mobiles fully charged, they set off in a cab, their exclusive chauffeur for the day.

They each made calls as they headed to the first encounter a cheap café where a notice board was kept updated with opportunities for those kids in the know, willing to work, and not turn up off their head. The teen lad who looked after the board got paid tips from both sides, which he needed having lost a leg in a street accident, he was almost a fixture, and helped clear tables as best he could.

Word would spread from the calls they placed, dialling public phones in known hang outs, it had become an unofficial network, that and a few cafés like this one, plus a few other haunts they would try on their rounds. They were known here, they were known in a lot of places, trusted, good people, even on the street their nickname had escaped, as kids drifted in from all over the guy behind the counter kept delivering teas or coffees knowing he would get paid before the girls left, most others were asked for payment up-front.

In a way Anna had some fame on a local basis among the underclass, but not in the way she was known by her international audience, slowly the group swelled until Marta catching up on the latest street news called the meeting to order.

“Thanks for showing up, there are some foreign guys coming to the city, coming in via the airport, within the next two or three days, they are here to cause trouble, nothing you need worry about, but some friends of ours want to know what they are up to, and where they go. We need pairs of you to be our eyes and ears, good day rate for all who take part, with a cash bonus for sightings. In pairs one can follow the target while the other phones back, then we can try to get more people near to the marks.”

“You'll get spending money up front, plus you'll get change for phone calls, I've got some strips of mug shots, so take one each, because spotting these guys means bonus time. You can call any one of those numbers printed on the back, tell the person your name, the location, and numbers, one through to seven of who you spot.”

They talked over details of what patch the teams would cover, and told to start the next morning so they were in place, in time, so the baddies couldn't slip past, when the boys scattered, they left 'hopper' the one legged teen with a stack of photos and a wad of cash, to field more recruits. Similar scenes recurred throughout the day, till Anna suggested the Squat, there were always a few men between jobs, and they were eager to do anything for the Goose girls, and it wouldn't hurt to also have a few adults on the ground.

It had felt good to take some positive action at last, their driver a Studio regular asked what it was all about, a look passed between them and Marta told him of the danger to the Studio, and about the young lads, and a few girls who were now all on the lookout, so it was no great shock when he drove back to the cab companies head office, Karl sent over more pictures. Thanks to the cab company they now had extra roving eyes driving the streets too.

At the Studio it was almost business as normal, some of the nicer props, costumes and backdrops got moved out, any equipment they weren't using was shipped out too, the same trucks were making deliveries first before being loaded for the outbound trip.

There were still girls to photograph, and a site to run. The predator breathing down their necks was far to arrogant to allow the operation to go down before they arrived on the scene, then there was jet lag to consider, plus the time arguing the toss with various local Ministries and the police. Now with all their defences in place, and preparations complete all they could do was wait.

The first call came in from 'Marta's Irregulars' set up as shoe-shine boys outside arrivals, next a call from the cab service with word two of their cars were inbound carrying targets one through to seven, and the name of the hotel where they were staying. The alert went out and operations ceased, with the website traffic transferred to a temporary location, to give the illusion of business as usual. If this did go as badly as they feared, they would pull the plugs on the temporary site and cover their tracks, then review their options when the heat died down.

The four girls who had been working that afternoon met and hugged one another as they waited in reception for their cabs, the strain was too much and one burst into tears, soon the other girls then their mums joined in. A round robin telephone alert went out to parents all over the country instructing them to open their sealed envelope.

That night more than fifteen-hundred families went to bed fearing for their future, hoping they could get by on the savings they had put aside. Had the earnings that so many of them relied upon dried up, or was this some temporary blip in their lives.

Shortly the eyes and ears of their network had extended into the hotel, and the building was surrounded by those who were trying to help. Snatches of conversation from their table over lunch the next day indicated meetings with the Crime Investigation Department of the Ministry for the Interior, the police and with Interpol. With such serious big hitters coming into play, various bank accounts were slowly reduced so as not to draw attention, as would happen by simply emptying them, and showing their hand too early.

Tension grew with the waiting, documents and files had been destroyed or erased, leaving trails that only made mention of older girls doing fashion catalogue work, that had been a cover strategy that had started off as a joke some years back. A veneer of plausibility was maintained, with the high end equipment they had been using in the studios replaced by faulty or outmoded kit, stuff which had previously been relegated to the back corners of store rooms. The last of the costumes, backdrops, props and accessories were spirited away to all points of the compass, replaced by more plain vanilla substitutes that would lend credence to the cover they were presenting.

Three days later the first sign of any action was that regular patrols by police vehicles now made detours to pass by locations where the Studio network was known to have facilities. A few well placed gifts soon garnered more intelligence; there had been some infighting as to who was to get the glory for the coming raids.

Those remaining at the Studio complex to provide a fake show of normality hoped the 'winners' of that contest ended up with egg on their face.

Boris had made his last visit to the server room in the adjacent building, theoretically they had no connection with it, but with enough determined searching, records held by third parties could reveal the true leasing of that space. His inherent paranoia would serve them well, for attacks could take many forms, but with a head start, expecting physical raids he had the contacts to help him prepare.

Bitter retired military and police personnel needed to eat just as much as the next person, so a little private income to join the staff at the remote Command HQ had been welcome.

It gave them an insiders view on the logistics of the raids, and the likelihood of staging posts where the men and vehicles would assemble nearby prior to their massed attack.

The number of suitable locations was soon whittled down by some judicious night time exercises in illegal fly tipping, rubble was dumped to reduce the number of usable sites.

The waste ground locations, and car parks now available to the enemy had been selected to suit their own purposes, and now the Irregulars were redeployed and given new orders.

The simultaneous raids were planned for mid-day, in the hope of catching the maximum number of people, with the aligned forces setting off after the morning rush to meet at their agreed locations. At one assembly point as the first police minibus approached some street kids playing football in the road delayed them for a moment, causing the driver to toot his horn. They got the usual abuse as the kids scattered, but they hadn't seen the two other boys who had been alerted to the start of the build up.

They parked at the far side of the empty lot, waiting for the rest of their group, and one by one the task force assembled. It was only when several men with the most braid on their sleeves emerged to talk it was found two vans had flat tires, then it was discovered there were a lot of screws tacks and nails about. While a few officers got their uniforms dirty changing tires, others were down on the ground clearing a path so they could drive out without wrecking more tires. By strange coincidence this happened at each meeting point, but as yet this was unknown between groups, due to the decision to maintain radio silence in case word leaked out to spoil their surprise raids.

It had only been necessary to block one approach road with a faked accident, giving everyone time to fade away to safe locations to view the keystone cops in action.

At the main Studio complex they burst through the door warrants in hand, the reception desk held a note – out to lunch, as smoke curled up from a lipstick marked cigarette in an ashtray. The man in charge hesitated for a moment then charged on through looking to find the main offices, it was as if they had boarded the Mary-Celeste, surely everyone couldn't have upped and gone to lunch en-mass to leave the place empty.

The scene was repeated at each location, they had been taken for fools, later raids on the few home addresses would net a few medium sized fish, but their haul would be very disappointing. For the most part handcuffs remained unused, as impotent as the officers that stood around trying to think of their next move.

The desks were surprisingly neat, but with no personal touches, no photos, and the paperwork was sparse, but evidence bags were soon filled, and PC's taken for examination by the experts. The lead investigator found what he supposed was the IT department in one side office was a desk with two chairs, and a table that had an odd pattern, a large square object had sat on the table causing the remainder to fade in the daylight. Several similar but disk shaped patterns marked a shelf, some more prominent than others, which lead him to think this room had been stripped out.

His attention was drawn to another room, where the men were attempting to force a door, the widows each side had a mirror tint preventing any view of the interior. The door and frame were much stronger than they appeared, giving the men trouble, breaking one of the windows only proved there were massive steel bars behind them.

When they did eventually gain entry, not only was it empty but it had been painted black – the walls, the ceiling and even the carpet!

One keen eyed officer spotted a tiny USB stick on the floor that had been painted in, hoping it might contain some vital information it was rushed off to their forensics team, just as Boris knew it would. His nasty worm screwed several more machines that were now rendered all but useless until their hard drives could be replaced.

The level of anger demanded that the people causing all this grief should be punished for their meddling in things they should have left well alone. After the USB fiasco each item was treated with kid gloves on non-networked machines, but results were disappointing with no references about the materials they were looking for, but the search continued.

Many of the intruders had secretly been wishing to view these pictures and videos when the nature of the material involved had been made known.

With progress almost non existent from evidence gathered in the raids, and finding bank funds had been drawn down to record low numbers, known associates and business links were now chased up. A prominent local cab company admitted they dropped girls off there all the time, no, not young girls, older teenagers, or young women in their twenties.

Each link lead to similar answers, that everyone was either on first name terms, or used nick-names so confirmation of any solid evidence was a nightmare, even descriptions were useless as if the whole place was run by men and women of average height and build with no distinguishing features.

Everyone had been very helpful – at telling them absolutely nothing!

From dubious and probably inadmissible sources, they had the names of a few families, and by scouring phone records they were able to find others. Neither the girls nor their parents had a bad word to say about the network, even when confronted with the pictures comments were limited to how nice this or that shot was. The families got angry at any attempt made in order to get them to press charges regarding coercion or abuse.

These were nice tasteful photographs that they had willingly agreed to, and they couldn't recall the names of the photographers involved, or much of anything else other than how well they had been treated. They denied obstructing justice, they had answered all they could, they couldn't be held to blame if they were ignorant of so many facts.

After so much frustration and all of the blind alleys, a list of names was discovered on one machine, along with address details and phone numbers, all prominent local figures.

Then the head of police burst their bubble, rather than a suspected list of associates, it looked like a list of the most hated and despised local politicians and officials.

Of the cubic metres of paperwork seized, most was inconsequential and time consuming, but the few leads they found were pursued vigorously, after coming up with virtually empty bank accounts and a few servers filled with useless junk. Forensics felt that they had been overwritten over the files they had wanted, but Boris hadn't been that careless, they were literally just old drives filled with junk.

One long paper-trail eventually lead to a supposedly empty unit standing next to the main Studio complex, officers were immediately sent to surround the building while all the legal paperwork was filed, no one wanted to be accused of an illegal search, or inadmissible evidence. The equivalent of a local swat team were dispatched, and many of the top officers wanted to be in at the kill.

It didn't take the trained professionals long to gain entry, it was when an internal door opened that someone spotted the snapped fishing line, worried about booby-traps they retreated to discuss the situation.

The police ignored spectators at the windows of nearby units overlooking the scene, so they wouldn't have seen the thin and prematurely balding man with a pony-tail, and pale skin. He had hoped this wouldn't be necessary, but they had retreated as expected, now he waited staring at the building. The first wisps of white smoke emerged from the roof vent, so the trigger had worked, the back-up remote he carried had been a spare fail-safe device in case the trip wires were somehow avoided.

The magnesium in a ship's distress flare burned at an incredibly high temperature, and in the confined spaces of the server cabinets with their forced air ventilation, all that would remain would be molten slag. He had gone overboard so to speak with the flares, four per cabinet had been total overkill, but when at last the power failed from the fire, the smoke would be trapped with the fans dying. The smoke would be dense, awful, choking, it may be necessary to punch holes in the walls to gain access, good job he had off-site back-up.

A cover story they had tried to field in the press, about an unwarranted raid by law enforcement officers deliberately damaging equipment and starting fires, never saw the light of day. All sectors of the media were encouraged only to release the official version of events, being told that any other commentary would be frowned upon.

Boris had relocated all his equipment and resources, but he was an angry bitter man, he had liked his old company, it had been a challenging job full of interest, he even spoke to some of his colleagues. The tricks and stunts pulled off during the dying days of the Studio network had not quenched the need to get payback, but in the depths of his private warren he was making plans.

He had kept in touch with Janus, certain in his own mind who the man was, and now with all the media attention the name of the section head running this witch-hunt had come to light. Using his many skills and contacts he knew a lot about this man, by all accounts a nasty little toad, who had risen to a level that was beyond his abilities to handle, and flack was heading in his direction. The objective of closing the Studio network had gone to plan but there were complaints over the lack of arrests.

This made his blood boil, but he now knew more about this man than his wife and mother combined knew about him. Using the man's credit card details he began to make online purchases for anything and everything that would bring him down – if anyone were to find out. Boris would ensure they found out with anonymous tip-off's.

Looking into the cesspool that existed in parts of the net he came up with links to Fascist magazines, subscriptions to other hate related organisations, and filled the man's home PC with homosexual paedophile images, and all manor of awful torture and rape material that had made Boris sick to his stomach. By the time he had finished there were awful files containing material that would make him the hate figure of almost every section of society regardless of how liberal their views. Changing date stamps was nothing to a man with his skills, so it would appear to any investigator that this was a long term ongoing obsession.

Girls in the city had been given the early heads up on the possible trouble ahead, the Goose sisters advising they have disks burned of their 'banked shoots' then leave them with a trusted elderly relative for safe keeping, avoiding anything Studio related in their own homes. If girls were identified, their faces alone would prove their involvement, but if no one wanted to talk, the powers that be were stymied.

The city based girls represented the highest concentration of models, and they felt a deep abiding resentment that the rug had been pulled from under their feet, their careers ended prematurely. It had been a fortunate rising trend over the past few years for many families to be given advice on investment options to safeguard their girl's savings in a diverse range of schemes, so they would not suffer the fate of their less wise sisters.

Desperate law enforcement agents were running out of ideas, despite the big media hype of their success, the truth on the ground was different, so their latest trick was to target the local schools.

Across from the head teacher sat two weary looking men, who talked of the delicate nature of their confidential enquiries, and how it involved the mass abuse of young girls all over the Ukraine. They suspected a major cell had existed within the capital, and could she look through the portrait shots in their folder to see if she recognised any of the girls.

Before she opened the cover she had a vague feeling she would see some familiar faces, she would need her best poker face not to breech the girls confidence if the pieces fell into place as she imagined. By the third picture it had all become clear, certain girls had been favoured by a particular local businessman over the past few years, pretty girls who did well, motivated confident girls, not a separate cabal, if they had any common trait it was as leaders willing to help others.

That same man had been an avid supporter of the school often making donations either in cash or useful items the school could use enabling her limited budget to stretch that much further. He had been the sole reason they had English lessons, a rare and most valuable addition to their scholastic curriculum, all down to one generous sponsor.

Many boys and girls had found employment due to that one skill alone.

She took her time scanning each image, wanting to appear diligent, she knew several girls, some now ex-pupils, then two faces she knew from a local school with whom they shared their English teacher, of course that would make sense. She must have seen those girls at some inter-school event, and now awake to the possibility she found others.

Closing the folder she told the men that the abused girls they were looking for did not attend this school, in her own mind she hadn't lied, she had recognised many faces, but they were among the best and brightest, happy souls who had not been abused.

In her career she'd come across abused children so she knew what she was talking about.

Soon after the men were shown out she made a call, her opposite number at the nearby rival school who was a friend of long standing, he hadn't been visited yet, but was of the same opinion, if the girls had wanted to complain they would have done so by now.

If these wicked and evil exploiters of young girls that had been splashed over the news were so awful, why had no girls or their parents come forwards?

If their common benefactor was involved in some evil scheme, it was not as the police or media would have one believe. She wondered if the girls were aware of this latest twist in the police investigation, it wouldn't do any harm, and may do some good if they did know of the wolf at their heels, she would go for a walk at next bell.

Marta left her advanced placement maths class, distracted by current events, worried for her friends, e-mail and computer use had for the duration been put on hold, cryptic notes in lonely hearts columns and visits to some sites using Cyber cafés was their limit.

“Hello Marta, can we have a word, I'll give you a note for your next class.”

Even as a prefect she didn't often speak to the head, but the woman was well liked by pupils and staff alike, making the best of the resources available, and encouraging many extra-curricular activities. As they walked in the direction of her office she asked how Marta's chess standing was these days, but Marta felt this was just a filler, not what the woman actually wanted to discuss.

In the office Marta was aware that sitting at a side table, rather than either side of the desk that represented the woman's authority held some significance.

“Marta you're an intelligent girl, and I don't wish to appear condescending, but I have a delicate subject to discuss, and I'm not sure how to approach the issue. I know you and your sister socialise with a set of girls spreading across the age range within the school, girls who all have a common goal of academic achievement, they also seem to be happy and well adjusted.”

“Before I get to the crux of the matter to see if I have read the situation correctly I would like you to answer a question. Today two men showed me pictures of some faces that I recognised, but in the context of their question I was able to say I didn't know those girls, did I make the right decision do you think?”

“Yes definitely, I think I need to make a phone call.”

“If you were thinking of calling any 'friends' in a nearby school that we happen to share a language teacher with, it can wait a while. After my visitors left I phoned the head of that particular school to warn him of an impending visit, and he like myself will be able to confirm that the 'abused girls' they were looking for do not attend his school either.”

“Thank-you, I can see you understand, all the local girls will be very grateful. The only abuse is by men in uniforms and suits, causing distress to a great many families across our nation, and there is so little we can do about it. I do need to make a call though, as there are others who need to be warned of this latest threat.”

Apart from those teams targeting schools in the three main cities where the Studio network was based, more teams were checking out other places these girls might visit as they would have an enormous disposable income compared to the norm, the fact the truth behind this snippet of information was overlooked said a lot about the people running this witch hunt. One team arrived at a riding stables on the edge of Kiev with their little book of portraits to see if the receptionist or manager knew any of these girls.

They'd arrived too late, for one of their members had spoken to them earlier about men coming around asking questions, even without the call they had seen the news and could guess the rest. The investigators would have received the same negative answer in any case, as several of the faces were of girls who now owned and stabled their own horses at the stables, paying for the full care package which paid a good deal of the staff wage bill.

At other sports and health clubs there was the same result, it was as if these girls didn't exist, where in fact the truth was, these were happy vibrant girls who were valued patrons of the businesses that were being questioned. The people to benefit from the trickle down effect of the income these girls had generated saw no reason to help any official who was trying to persecute valued clients and in many cases their friends.

Epilogue

The survivors sat around the table, they were just a handful of the guests that had shown up that day, coalescing in this room to talk, more like family than work colleagues, and closer than many families. It was a bitter sweet reunion, so few people had been named, outed in a way, and they had fled the country or gone into hiding for a while, their lives currently on hold.

Out of their network, with such powerful forces aligned against them, only two arrests had been made, and it was beginning to look like a farce, for the prosecutors were floundering with their inability to provide any hard evidence, the lack of any creditable witnesses, and the fact not one single family wanted to press charges. The latest news was that given a few more months the authorities would have to set the captives free, which was greeted by sounds of utter relief by all those present, for it had hurt that they hadn't been able to show their support by making prison visits.

The captives would understand, this and other scenarios had been covered at length during their weeks of planning, but it didn't help those who were free, they felt a sense of guilt with their inability to help. They each spoke of the people they were still in contact with, and how they were coping. One recurrent theme had been relief their country didn't have the wealth to provide an adequate social services infrastructure, or many of the girls could have been taken from their homes. It was bad enough they had all been dumped on their ass, many now without any means of financial support, but at least they were still together as families.

Those that were in any position to do so helped out the others, with job offers at business in which they had a stake, this was from investments they had made during better times.

The mood had been sombre, with the air of a wake, in a way it was, they knew from all the twisted news reports the Studio had been fated as some sort of evil empire, there would be no Phoenix arising from the ashes.

One of their number pointed out the sick and perverse irony of the situation, that if the point of the raid had been to eliminate some form of perceived child exploitation then it had all been a very sad mistake. The girls who had worked for the Studio had loved it for they had gained financially, and in so many other ways it had enhanced their lives.

It had misfired terribly, for it was all of the two bit operators who were the exploiters, they should have been the target if anyone, where a girl might get paid the equivalent of $10 for a session if she were lucky, then be told to clear off. These were the people who would now flourish, the self-seeking backstreet hustlers, never large enough to emulate the fallen giant.

If there was a moral to the events it would be if you want to do some good in the world always look first to the law of unintended consequences.

Two sisters sat at the table, the younger said she was strong now, she had gained that strength through her journey as had many like her, they would survive, each finding their own path. Perhaps one day the truth would be known, her own story, and the girls she had met along the way, but it wasn't the end, maybe someday, somebody would tell their stories........

The End?

End note from Slow Quill

Any factual info I have included concerns the history and current laws in some countries, and how that impacted some unnamed legitimate business ventures.

The etymology of linguistics is covered, and although some characters in the story discuss in general terms various types of internet forums in a nebulous way having found a list of URL's, as an audience we are not privy to the names of any places they visit. With regard to any models they only speculate about the lives of other unnamed models wondering about the parallels or the differences in their life styles. The fictional characters in my story have names, but they are just imaginary composites, and the Studio they work for is only ever refereed to as the Studio, any other people outside of their own realm are nameless.

The story was inspired by media reports of the downfall of a modelling network, though nothing was reported about the majority of the unfortunate girls involved, therefore as we can't know their fate, this outlandish and totally fictitious tale is told from their viewpoint.

Feeling somewhat sorry for how badly the main protagonists in the story were treated by the men in suits, I felt inclined to write a follow-on story. This is a darker tale reflecting a mood of hatred and resentment about previous events, with vignettes on the post-Studio life of some people from the preceding volume, while adding some new faces into the mix.

Story_codes: sexual context, slow, Mf.

Basically some Mf with a large dose of action-adventure plus a helping of comedy in the ironic form of the revenge taken by the main players - a couple of victims of the raid, one of whom you've met before, the other a new face. A bit more mainstream thriller, though having a frisson of topics not considered acceptable on most plain vanilla story sites.

Title - Where there's a market. 54K words, over 85 pages, split into 12 chapters.