Paladin

Chapter 4: Swing Shift

"Daniel! Glad you could make it!" Howard said as Daniel Michener entered his boss's living room. Daniel turned, and he led his wife over to the bar where his boss was standing.

"Good evening, Mr. Shapley," Daniel said to him, shaking his hand. "Please let me introduce my wife, Questa."

"How are you this evening, my dear?" Howard said as he shook her hand gracefully. "Please, in here you can both call me Howard. It can be uncomfortable enough without the formality. Now, you... did bring the paperwork?"

"Yes, sir," Daniel said, handing over some documents that Howard had insisted upon before Daniel and his wife could attend the gathering.

"Ah, good. It just makes all the guests much more comfortable if these things are taken care of. You understand."

"Of course. I wouldn't expect any less. Thank you for inviting us."

"I've been keeping track of you for some time now. You do stellar work, and you have a good reputation. I know, also," Howard said, turning to Questa, "that you do volunteer work in our community, as well as with your church. May I commend you on your civic-mindedness."

"Thank you," she said with a slight blush and a smile.

"I do try to bring only the best to these get-togethers. But you didn't come here to listen to me yammer. Please, go and mingle with the other couples. You may not see me very much this evening; I rarely participate in these occasions. I'm just here as a host; the rest is up to you."

"Okay. Thank you again... Howard," Daniel said, trying to obey his boss's wishes, and not call him by his last name.

With that, Daniel led his wife off into the much larger "great room", where the majority of the guests were gathered.

-----

Daniel sat in a chair, his feet up on an ottoman, staring out the window at his wife. They had been at the party for almost an hour now, and he was watching her fuck her second guy already. He sipped at his drink while he gently rubbed his dick through his pants.

"This is no place for jealousy," a voice said. Daniel looked away from his wife to see a very attractive brunette looking at him. "We all came here to enjoy ourselves... if you can't deal with it, you shouldn't have come."

Daniel smiled. "Oh, no, I'm not jealous. I enjoy watching my wife with other guys. I mainly come to these things for that. I only have sex at these things once in a while. Most of the time I just watch."

The brunette knelt next to Daniel, glancing out at his wife, who was currently bouncing on top of an attractive blonde man. She turned back to Daniel, running her hand along the outline of his already hard cock. She unzipped his slacks, and reached into his boxer shorts, pulling his dick free and stroking it.

"Not tonight. My husband didn't invite you here to sit and watch. You're here to participate."

"Mr. Shapley is your husband? He said he doesn't join in the activities..."

"He doesn't. I do," she said with finality, and then her lips contacted Daniel's cock. As she slowly engulfed his dick with her mouth, Daniel closed his eyes and laid his head back against the chair. He felt her tongue start to swirl around the head of his prick, and he moaned softly at the feel of it.

After a few moments, the woman lowered her mouth slowly onto Daniel's cock, taking his entire length into her mouth. Though Daniel had several partners, it had been a while since he'd found one who could deep throat, and the sensation was wonderful. He ran his fingers through the woman's hair, just enjoying the sensations she was giving him.

The brunette slowly worked her mouth off his dick, waggling her tongue back and forth as she did. Once she reached the top, she began to slowly descend again. She kept her pace slow and even, driving Daniel mad with the pleasure of it. He was soon groaning, trying to hold back his climax. He knew it was a losing game, but he didn't want her sucking to end.

Finally, however, he had to relent. He gave the woman a loud warning grunt, but she didn't let go of his prick. He held out as long as he could, until she had pulled back slightly, and then he let go of the torrent of cum that had built up. It felt like he was shooting his soul out his dick, it was so intense, and he was actually dizzy from the release.

After his orgasm subsided, the brunette gave his cock a few more licks, and then let his dick loose. She could see he was still disoriented. Turning to face him fully, she began to remove her clothes. He stared hungrily as her body came into view. She had a nice pair of tits, and she was very fit. As her panties hit the floor, he noticed that her mound was shaved. He had never been with a woman who had done that, and the thought intrigued him.

Leaning down, the woman ran her hand across Daniel's chest. She purred softly, "Are you ready for more?"

Daniel sighed contentedly, and nodded, but asked, "What's your name?"

As the woman reached down to activate the reclining lever on the chair, she replied, "Angelica. Now, no more talk." She slid Daniel into a reclining posture, and then she stood up.

Angelica climbed on top of Daniel, and then slid her way up his body. At first, he was concerned the chair would topple, but apparently it was sturdy enough to handle it. All concerns about the furniture died away as Angelica's pussy came into view above his mouth.

Without any additional prompting, Daniel reached up and took hold of Angelica's hips, pulling her pussy down to his waiting tongue. He licked along her outer lips, causing her to moan. After a while, he slid his tongue deeper, lapping along her slit and making her shudder with pleasure. As she began to roll her hips against him, he reached up with his lips and took her clit into his mouth. Angelica groaned loudly as he began to suck on her, his tongue flitting across it as he did so.

Daniel continued to lick and suck at her clit, and Angelica was soon rising toward her climax. Her hips started to roll harder and faster, and he was actually having trouble keeping her clit in his mouth. His effort was soon rewarded, however, as Angelica came, screaming out her orgasm and bucking strongly on top of him. As her orgasm died out, she slowly laid back, her body laying itself out on top of Daniel, her back arched and her knees still bent under her. He had a lovely view of her pussy this way, but he couldn't exactly move.

It was only a minute or so before Angelica began to stir. But she did not climb off of Daniel. Instead, she turned herself over, and slid herself so that her pussy was once again within reach of his mouth. He took the hint and began to lick at her lips once more.

As he did so, he felt Angelica's mouth engulf his prick again, and her head started to bob on his shaft. Daniel groaned in delight, and redoubled his efforts on her pussy. It didn't take long before Angelica shuddered in another small orgasm, but by then she had his prick well and truly hard once more.

Angelica slid off Daniel, and stood up. She reached down and fully unfastened his pants. He lifted his hips as she pulled pants and boxer shorts down off his hips, and then looked up at her expectantly. She did not disappoint him as she then straddled his waist, and lowered her pussy onto his waiting rod.

As Daniel reached up to massage her tits, Angelica began to ride his cock. She didn't start slowly; her pace was fast and furious. Her shoulder-length hair bounced as she moved, and Daniel watched the intense look on her face as she closed her eyes and just enjoyed herself. He, too, was enjoying himself quite a bit, but he preferred to watch his partner as they coupled.

After a while, Angelica slowed to a stop, and opened her eyes. She looked down at Daniel and smiled, then climbed off him. She crooked her finger at him, telling him without words to get up. He did so, and Angelica led him slowly over to a railing which surrounded a sunk-in portion of the great room. Bending over, she placed her hands on the railing and pushed out her ass at him. Her meaning was obvious.

Stepping close, Daniel pressed his prick to her entrance, and pushed. His cock slid in easily, and he was soon buried to the hilt inside her. He wasted no time setting up a rhythm, and the two were soon pounding away together. Her hips bucked back at him just as hard and fast as his hips were slamming into her, and together they started to rise toward their final peak.

The two grunted and groaned as they moved together. Daniel reached forward and groped Angelica's tits, pushing her even higher in arousal. She squeezed his cock with her pussy muscles, trying to milk the cum from him. On they went, until finally, they could stand no more.

Almost as if a switch was thrown, the two came together, crying out in pleasure as Daniel's cock twitched and spurted inside of her. The two shuddered against each other for long moments, until their orgasms subsided, and they began to settle down from their high.

-----

In a small room elsewhere in the house, Howard Shapley watched the goings-on in his home. He smiled to himself in satisfaction; the get-together had gone off exactly as planned.

-----

"I hope you two enjoyed yourselves," Howard said to Daniel and Questa, shaking their hands as they were getting ready to leave.

"Yes, sir," Daniel said with a smile. Questa nodded, as well.

"Good! Well, hopefully you can come back again for our next party."

"I'd like that," Daniel replied. Again, his wife just nodded. She seemed to be a little out of it, but then, she'd had sex with four different men during the evening, so it was understandable.

"Well, have a good night. See you at the office, Daniel. Drive safe."

~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~

"Danny, we got something in the mail from your boss today," Questa told him as she came into the living room. It was Saturday, and the party was a couple weeks behind them. She handed Daniel the manila envelope, which clearly bore his boss's writing. The envelope was addressed to both of them.

Daniel opened the envelope, and out slid a DVD. There was also a small note, which said, "You may find this of some interest." Daniel eyed Questa curiously, and then shrugged.

"Well, let's pop it in and see what he sent us." Daniel walked over to the entertainment center and put the disk in the tray. Questa hit the Play button, and by the time Daniel made it back to the couch, the video had already appeared.

"Oh, my god."

~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~

"Hey, Mrs. Langdon," Curtis said into the phone, "how are you? My name is Bobby Curtis, I am a work colleague of your daughter's."

"Yes, she's mentioned you. What can I do for you?"

"I was wondering if you had heard from her recently."

"Yes, as a matter of fact, she's come to visit me for a few days. She said she'd informed work. Is there a problem there? Do you need to speak with her?"

"Oh, no, that's all right. She just left without saying much to anyone, and we wanted to make sure that she was okay. Things are fine here. Please just let her know we called to see how she was doing, and that we look forward to seeing her when she gets back to work, okay?"

Curtis looked up at Amber, who had come in halfway through the call. She arched an eyebrow at him, but didn't say anything.

"Certainly, I can do that," Mrs. Langdon replied.

"Thank you, Mrs. Langdon. You have a good day, now. Good bye."

As he hung up, Bobby leaned back in his chair and let out a breath. To Amber, he said, "Well, Mel has gone to visit her mother."

"Typical. She is uncomfortable with her job, uncomfortable with what she thinks you're turning into, and so she retreats to the place she feels safe."

"I'm turning into something?"

Amber sat down. "Mel doesn't really understand what being a cop is like. She doesn't know the kind of aggravation and rage that can build up. She has no concept of the frustration that you feel when a guy you spent weeks or months trying to bring in gets let out on a technicality. And so, she thinks that this job is turning you into the kind of guy who is okay with taking out people who the system can't touch."

"The people I've killed in this job would have hurt a lot of others if I'd let them live."

"I know, and that's the point. To you, there really isn't an alternative. When you've had one, you've taken it. Mel doesn't see that. She only sees the very worst case scenario. And she can't deal with it."

"You think she'll be back in a few days?"

"Honestly? No."

"Shit. We can't really do this without her... or someone like her."

"I know. I've already contacted our bosses and filled them in on our possible future need."

"Okay. Did you need something, or was this a social call?"

Amber smiled at him. "You have been invited to another get-together."

Bobby sighed heavily. "I hate these things."

"Get used to it; that's what your cover is."

"That is going to change," Bobby said sharply. Taking a deep breath, he asked, "You want to go with me?"

Amber shook her head. "You can't be seen with the same girl... at least not twice in a row. Besides, I'm not going to let you use me as an emotional crutch. It wouldn't be good for you, me, or the job. Don't you have someone else you can ask?"

Bobby reached into a drawer and pulled out a small notebook. "Yes, yes I do. You were merely my first choice," he said, giving her a look that said, "Emotional crutch?”

"I didn't know you had a little black book," she said, trying to ignore his rebuke.

"I didn't used to. But since I now need to have multiple dating possibilities at any one time, I have taken to keeping one." He flipped to a random page, and then nodded. "She'll do."

Amber looked at the name. "Who is Sarah Rollins?"

"She worked as secretary for Pete Stankowski. That case we did a few months back."

"Oh, right. You asked her for her number?"

Bobby shrugged. "We had to spend a few hours together. She seemed nice."

"Fair enough. Good luck."

Bobby gave her a dirty look as he picked up the phone. She smiled at him and left the room.

~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~

"Mr. Curtis, so nice of you to come. And who is your lovely lady friend?"

"This is Sarah Rollins. Sarah, this is..."

"Daniel Michener. I'm your host for the evening. It is a pleasure to meet you both. I wonder, Mr. Curtis, if I might speak to you privately for a few moments? I hate to trouble you right when you get here..."

"That's quite all right, if you don't mind leading the way, rather literally. Sarah, I'll be right back. If you could keep an eye out for me, I'd appreciate it."

"No problem, Bobby. Hurry back." She gave him a smile, which he had to pretend not to see, but her voice spoke the smile louder than her face did.

Bobby put his hand out, and Daniel took him by the elbow. Together, they walked, albeit slowly, out of the living area and into a private study. Daniel closed and locked the door. He led Bobby over to a seat, and Bobby sat down, thankful to be done with the charade of being led around. He didn't carry a white cane only because he knew that was an even bigger hassle.

"So, what can I do for you, Mr. Michener?" Bobby asked, getting the meeting started.

"Someone told me that, if I have a problem that I can't take to the police, you might be the person to talk to. Is that true?"

"It all depends on the problem," Bobby replied. "What is troubling you?"

"I am being blackmailed," he replied.

"I see. And of course, you don't want the police involved because you don't want them knowing what is being held over you."

"Exactly. I know that it will end up in the papers."

"Who are you being blackmailed by?"

"My boss."

"I see. And you do realize, you're going to have to tell me what he's holding over you?"

"The person who gave me your name said you are totally discreet. I'm counting on that."

"I'm waiting..."

Daniel took a deep breath, and then started talking. "My wife and I are swingers. We go to parties several times a year. My boss invited us to a party that he had arranged. Apparently, he videotaped the entire thing, because a couple weeks later, we got a tape in the mail, with a message on it saying that if we didn't give him money, he would publicize the tape. My wife and I have reputations to keep in a community that doesn't take kindly to our sexual lifestyle."

Bobby nodded. "And I'm sure your boss knew that before he invited you."

"He did say that he had been watching me for some time."

"The other people you were involved with, have you asked them if he is blackmailing them, as well?"

"No, neither of us really knew the people. But the woman I slept with said she was my boss's wife. She said her name was Angelica."

"I will need your boss's name and address, and I will need a copy of the tape."

"Why do you need the tape?"

"To try to identify the others. In order to beat a blackmailer, you need to have something to fight with."

"Oh. Okay. Is there someplace I can have it couriered to? I only have my copy, which I don't want to leave my hands."

"Certainly." Bobby took a card out of his coat pocket, and handed it across. On it was a mail drop address.

"Thank you. I appreciate your help."

"I make no promises. But I will look into this."

"Thank you again. You have no idea how much my wife and I appreciate it. Here, let me lead you back out to the party."

~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~

"So, what was last night about?" Amber asked. She and Terrier had come into the office to hear about their newest case.

"Our client is being blackmailed by his boss. Apparently, Daniel - that's our client - and his wife attended a swing party, and were videotaped without their knowledge. Now, he is threatening to ruin their reputations."

"So let him," Terrier said. "Bunch of perverts, anyway..."

Bobby leveled his gaze at Terrier. "Hyper-morality has no place in this business, Russell. Just because you don't agree with their lifestyle doesn't make it wrong. What two completely consenting adults do with their sex life is between them, and they shouldn't be punished for it so long as it's legal, which it is."

"Yes, sir," Terrier replied, his face flushing at the rebuke.

"Now Daniel dropped off some case material at our drop box. Go get it." After Terrier left the room, Bobby looked at Amber. "I can't stand that kid."

Amber grinned. She was about to say something, when Terrier came back, leading someone else. Bobby's hand was already on the gun he kept fastened to the side of his chair. Terrier stopped outside the office, and motioned the man in.

As the man stepped in, he held up his badge. "Agent Phil Stewart, Department of Justice Enforcement."

"And?" Bobby asked.

"I'm your new liaison with the department."

"What happened to the other guy?"

"He was reassigned. Now, I hear that there is a personnel problem. Care to fill me in?" The man sat down in the chair that Terrier had vacated, and rested the edge of his clipboard against the desk, opening it so that he could take notes.

"There are several problems here. The personnel issue is merely one of them."

"Well, can we start there, then?"

"We don't yet know that we have a problem, but we strongly suspect that Mary Langdon will not be returning from her leave of absence to the project," Bobby said formally.

Agent Stewart looked up. "What happened?"

Amber answered for Bobby. It was more her department, anyway. "Personality conflict. She is having trouble dealing with the nature of the job."

"Is this something you feel can be resolved through counseling?"

"I highly doubt it. Mel is generally opposed to outright violence, and since that is often the nature of the work here, I don't think she will ever truly adjust."

"I see. So you believe that we need to replace her?"

"I would like to wait and see what she chooses to do. I think, however, that you should have a replacement in mind."

"Okay." Stewart made some more notes. "Now, you said there were other problems?"

"Yeah," Bobby said, leaning forward. "The biggest one being this cockamamie idea on how to hide this project. And it ends now. Your refusal to let me call myself an investigator has already cost me one solid information source."

"Mr. Curtis, the project is classified. We cannot have you going around publicizing the department..."

"Who said anything about the department? There are investigators all over the world who have nothing whatsoever to do with your precious department!"

"So you would prefer to portray yourself as a private investigator, then?"

"It would at least eliminate the awkwardness of explaining what I do. But you can drop the word "private". From now on, I am simply going to refer to myself as an 'investigator and troubleshooter'. That should be sufficiently vague for you, shouldn't it?"

Agent Stewart closed his clipboard, and stood. "Okay, fine. Here are the things you may not do. You may not refer to the department, or the government as your employer. You may not reveal the nature of your vision device; that is still a classified Department of Defense project. You may not flash your badge-"

"I don't even carry my badge."

"-and you cannot expose anyone else who works here as part of your organization."

"That's a little difficult, given my next objection, which is that idiot who led you back here. He is part of the organization. He has been seen with me. Granted, I was acting as Paladin at the time, and not as Bobby Curtis, but still."

"So long as you were acting in your... You actually call yourself Paladin?"

"What did you want me to do? Tell all the bad guys my real name? It would kind of defeat the purpose of protecting those around me. So yes, I refer to myself as Paladin except to my clients, who don't know who Paladin is, most likely."

"Well, so long as you are acting under your other identity, being seen with Terrier isn't a problem. You should not be seen with him as Bobby Curtis. I also understand that you are close to Ms. Mitchell here, as well as Ms. Langdon."

"And?"

"You endanger them by associating them with yourself."

"The only manner in which I have publicly associated with them is in the same manner as I associated with a young lady who is almost a complete stranger to me last night: as my date at a party. Perhaps you've forgotten that blind people don't walk around on their own without a cane, which I never learned to use properly. That means I have to be led by someone, which means I have to have a date at every function I go to. Until I had established a better set of contacts, Mel and Amber were my only real choices." This wasn't the whole story, but it was good enough for Stewart.

"A good point. I don't think that was thought through very well back at HQ. As to Terrier, he stays. Someone has to learn this job in case you are... well, killed."

"Maybe I should send him to the parties."

"Not advisable at this point," Agent Stewart replied immediately.

"No shit, Sherlock. I was being sarcastic. You got anything else you want to discuss, or can I get back to work?"

"That's all. If you need anything further, you know how to contact us."

"Unfortunately."

Stewart nodded, and showed himself out.

"You really don't like them, do you?" Amber asked.

"Feds. They think their shit don't stink, but half the time, they don't actually know how to do their jobs. They don't listen to the locals, and it more often than not gets them into trouble."

"But you were in the FBI. You work for the federal government now. You've always been a fed."

"So I know what I'm talking about," he said with a smirk. "Now, about this case..."

~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~

Curtis walked into Amber's office the next day, to find Terrier still trying to hit on her. Amber was giving him the cold shoulder routine, but he just wasn't getting the message.

"Any luck with that video tape?" Curtis asked her. They had been analyzing the video sent to Daniel for the past day.

"Some. Look here..."

Curtis leaned down to look at her screen, which Terrier couldn't see. It didn't have a picture on it. Instead, Amber typed, "I'm getting tired of him staring at me. Kiss me, would ya?"

Paladin turned his head and kissed Amber very strongly. She leaned into him, and their tongues were soon dueling. After a long moment, they both heard Terrier get up from his chair. They didn't break their kiss for a good thirty seconds after that.

Amber smiled up at Bobby, trying to catch her breath. Only then did she look over to see that, yes, Terrier had left.

"Thanks. That guy is starting to get on my nerves."

"He was on my nerves a long time ago. So, did you make any progress on the video?"

"Yeah, I was able to isolate a few faces for you. I'm running them through NCIC now, as well as all the other ID services. I printed out the best pictures for you." She handed him a stack of photos, which he thumbed through. "That one on top is the girl identified as Howard Shapley's wife."

"Angelica," Curtis said.

"Yes. Except for one minor detail."

"And that is?"

"Howard Shapley isn't married, and there isn't an Angelica Shapley anywhere in Broadmoor," replied deadpan.

"Interesting. So our perpetrator has an accomplice. Any info on her at all?"

"Not so far. I'm still working on it."

"Well, keep at it. Let me know when you make any connections."

"Will do."

~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~

"Can I help you?"

"I need to speak with Melvin Shamblin, please."

"And you are?" the secretary asked.

"Paladin," he said simply. She gave him a hairy eyeball, but picked up the phone, anyway.

"Sir, there is a Mr... Paladin here to see you." After a pause, she said, "Yes, sir." After hanging up, she turned to him and said, "Mr. Shamblin has never heard of you. I'm afraid you'll have to make an appointment."

Paladin turned to look at the directory on the wall. They listed everyone's office number. Not smart. Paladin didn't bother to say anything to the secretary, but simply walked past her. He knew that the door back to the offices was electronically locked, but he also knew where the button was. He telekinetically pressed it, and opened the door.

"Sir, you can't go back there! Sir!" the secretary called out. He made sure the door clicked shut behind him, and then he walked down the hall to office 428. This door was not locked. He opened it and went in.

Melvin Shamblin looked up from his computer in surprise. "Sherry, I told you to..." The man's voice trailed off as he saw Paladin, standing there in black, staring at him with that impenetrable visored gaze of his.

"Uh... what can I do for you?" the man asked.

Paladin closed the door and leaned against it. "I am Paladin. I have some questions for you."

"Okay..." Melvin responded, glancing toward the phone and wondering if he could call for help.

Paladin saw the look, and so he telekinetically moved the phone onto the floor, well out of Melvin's reach. Melvin's eyes grew wide at seeing the phone move by itself.

"I'm not here to hurt you," Paladin said to him, "but I do intend to ask my questions without interruption. I can get nasty, if I have to, but I would prefer that we were civilized about this."

Melvin sat back in his chair, resigned to whatever fate he was now faced with. "Okay. What do you want to know?"

"Do you know a man named Howard Shapley?"

Melvin's gaze hardened. "Yeah."

"The tone of your voice would suggest you don't like him very much."

"I don't."

"Why?"

"I can't tell you."

"Is it because he is blackmailing you?"

Melvin went pale. "How did you... you couldn't..."

"Settle down, Mr. Shamblin. You're not the only one he's got under his thumb. I'm guessing that everyone at the party you went to is in the same boat. What I want to know is, do you have any additional names of guests?"

"A few. We exchanged cards."

"I would like those names."

"Uh, sure. They're in my desk drawer, though..." Melvin could easily tell that Paladin was armed, and he didn't want to get shot.

"Move slowly."

Melvin did so, withdrawing the cards from his desk drawer and handing them over to Paladin. Paladin took out a small notebook and copied down the names, then handed the cards back to Melvin.

"You're not going to take them?"

"You kept them for a reason. I have no need to deprive you of the information."

"Oh."

"What do you know about Mr. Shapley?"

"Other than that he's a slimeball? Not much. He's a member of the same country club as I am. That's how we met. Other than that, I can't tell you much."

"What's the name of the country club?"

"Seven Hills."

Paladin nodded, and then turned to go.

"Wait! What are you going to do with this information?"

"Nothing that's going to harm you," Paladin said. "Have a good day."

As Paladin opened the door, he was accosted by three security guards.

"Okay, buddy, it's time for you to go." The man reached for Paladin's arm.

Paladin's inhuman gaze made the man reconsider his actions. Paladin took a step toward all three of them, none of whom was nearly as tall as he was. He gazed down at them for a long moment, without saying a word. Then he turned and walked out of the hallway, nodding at the secretary as he went by.

Seven Hills, huh? That's a pretty rarified atmosphere. I wonder how to approach that place?

~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~

Curtis was walking down the hall, heading for Amber's office. He saw her standing outside the lab, speaking to someone who he could not see. He wondered if Mel had returned.

"Hey, Amber, did you get any lead on - who are you?" he asked, seeing the person for the first time. It was a male, slight and short. He was black, with thick glasses which he was continually pushing up his nose. He paled slightly when he saw Curtis.

"Oh, hey, sir! My name is Grant Jones. I'm your temp lab tech. They didn't want you to be handicapped - uh, um..." Grant faltered until Curtis waved him on. "Anyway, they didn't want to slow you down with Ms. Langdon on leave, so they sent me over."

"Good enough." He turned to Amber, "Did you get any lead on that woman?" Curtis had spent the previous day talking to various victims of Shapley, but the woman was their only lead on an accomplice.

"Yeah, actually, I did. Would have been a lot easier if we hadn't lost Alice. The woman is a prostitute, her name actually is Angelica, but her last name is Detrick, not Shapley. We have a last known address, but I doubt it's accurate. She works for an escort service, as well."

"Interesting," Bobby said with a smirk. "I wonder how she ties in with Shapley."

"That I was unable to find out."

"Do you know the name of the escort service?"

"It's on my desk."

"Great."

-----

"Mr. Palatine?" the woman asked, standing at the door.

"Angelica?" Bobby replied, not verifying his name, but giving the impression she had gotten it right.

"That's right," she said, smiling sweetly.

"C'mon in," he said, closing the door behind her. She looked around with curiosity at the apartment, which was not Bobby's.

"Nice place," she said, just to make chit chat.

"It's livable," he responded. "Can I take your jacket?"

She handed over her coat and he put it on a peg on the back of the door. Then he turned to face Angelica again.

"You only paid for an hour, so... do you just want to get down to business?" she asked.

"Sounds good," Bobby agreed. He led her back to the bedroom, and then he kicked off his shoes. He was otherwise dressed in jeans and a T-shirt.

"What's with the sunglasses?" Angelica asked him, referring to his visor.

"My eyes are extremely light-sensitive," he replied, using one of the excuses he'd come up with over the last several months.

Angelica shrugged; it made no difference to her. She began to disrobe, watching Bobby's face for signs that he was enjoying her performance. He smiled at her as her clothes slowly came off. After a few moments, she was standing in only stockings and garters, and cupping her tits for his approval.

"You have a beautiful body," Bobby said truthfully.

"Thank you," she said with what he was certain was a feigned smile. She moved over to him and knelt in front of him. "Now, let's see what you've got in there."

Angelica unzipped Bobby's fly and reached into his pants. He had worn boxer shorts for the occasion, and she slipped her hand inside the slit, to feel his already fully hard cock. She smiled to herself at that, and gently tugged it out of his clothing, where it stood proud and erect.

Angelica licked the tip of his cock, and then swirled her tongue expertly around the head. Bobby sighed at the pleasant sensations, and gently ran his fingers through her hair. She soon began licking the sides of his shaft while she held his cock with her hand, flicking her thumb over the head occasionally to send jolts of pleasure through his body.

When Angelica moved her head to the tip of his cock and pushed her mouth down onto him, Bobby groaned. She was truly an expert at this, and it felt wonderful. Once she took as much of his cock in as she could, she started bobbing her head rapidly on his pole. Bobby groaned again and leaned back, supporting himself on his arms as he just allowed the feel of her mouth on his dick to wash over him. He knew he wouldn't be too long in coming, but that was okay; his recovery time was pretty quick, he knew.

Angelica began to fondle his balls, and Bobby knew that was the last straw. He felt himself rising quickly to climax, and in only a few more moments, his cum burst from the tip of his cock. Angelica continued to suck, even continued to bob her head, though not as vigorously, until he was done spewing. Finally, she swallowed his cum, and pulled her mouth off his dick, giving it a little lick as it slipped from between her lips.

"That was incredible," he said breathlessly.

Angelica looked over at the clock. "You've still got quite a bit of time left. Do you think you'll want sex?"

"Oh, certainly," he said enthusiastically. "Just give me a few moments. Why don't you lie down on the bed here?" He motioned her to the middle of the bed, and she obliged, climbing onto the bed and lying down, facing him. Bobby turned to face her, and lay down next to her. He ran his hands over her body, and she smiled at him encouragingly. He ran his hands over her tits, tweaking her nipples as he passed by them. He could tell that she was getting slightly aroused despite herself, and that suited his needs.

As his hands trailed down across her abdomen, Bobby asked her, "Do you like doing this kind of work?"

Angelica had heard that question many times before. It was the kind men had to ask, to alleviate their anxiety at paying for sex. "Sure. It's interesting, and it pays well. And I really like sex." Which was, in her case, actually true; she did enjoy her job.

As his hand reached her pubic hair and began making small circles until she parted her legs, he asked, "How long have you been doing it?"

This was a more unusual question, but Angelica had been asked before. "A couple years," she replied. She wondered why he was so interested, but her mind got sidetracked as his finger slipped gingerly across the hood of her clit.

Bobby slipped his finger further down, pressing it into her opening. He found that she was already growing wet, and he slipped his finger in and out of her several times to arouse her further, and to lube his finger. When he pulled his finger out and flicked it against her clit, she shivered slightly.

"Have you always worked for the same service?" he asked as his finger continued to manipulate her clit.

Angelica moaned very softly; she was surprised at how aroused he was making her. His question was one she'd not been asked before. "Why do you care?"

"Just making conversation while I recover," Bobby said offhandedly as he twirled her clit with his finger. He felt her shudder again. He was surprised she was getting so into this. It was either that, or she was an incredible actor.

"W-well, I have worked with Tanya's the entire time, yes," she said, her voice quivering a little, which surprised her as much as it did Bobby. "Mmmm, baby, that's good," she said, remembering to keep up the sex talk.

Bobby ignored that as he allowed his finger to continue working over her clit. He leaned down and sucked on her nipple for a few seconds, causing her to arch her back, pushing her tit further into his mouth. At that point, Bobby used a trick he'd been working on for a while. He used his telekinesis and formed it into a dick, pressing it into her pussy.

Angelica cried out at the unexpected but very pleasant intrusion. Her body was getting very worked up by this guy, and she was unprepared for that. When he let loose her nipple, she sighed at the loss, but the phantom dick in her pussy took up the slack, stroking in and out of her at a good pace.

Bobby kept up his actions, and he asked, "Is Tanya real? The woman I spoke to on the phone said her name was Mandy."

Angelica tried to fight the wonderful feelings to keep her mind clear. There were certain questions she'd been coached how to answer. "Tanya works behind the scenes. She doesn't speak to clients."

"Oh, c'mon now," Bobby cooed. He thickened his TK dick inside of her. Angelica cried out again. "Is there really a Tanya? Most of these places try to make it seem like there's some glamorous madam behind the scenes, and it's usually some fat guy. Have you ever met Tanya?"

Angelica didn't answer for a long moment, but finally she relented. "No."

"So who do you work for?" Bobby asked. As he did, he started to move his TK prick faster, but he moved his hand off her clit. Angelica moaned.

"I can't tell you. I've already said more than I'm supposed to."

Bobby shrunk the dick inside her, and started to withdraw it. He was fascinated to watch her body try to pull it back inside her. He had not expected to be able to use sex as an interrogation technique, but he was having fun, nevertheless.

"Are you sure you can't tell me?" he teased, pushing his TK dick back inside her once more, then withdrawing it completely.

Angelica actually whimpered at the loss. She shook her head back and forth. "I'd get in major trouble! What are you, a cop?"

Here was a question that Bobby had been coached how to answer. "I'm not gonna arrest anyone, no. I have a personal curiosity."

Angelica continued to shake her head. "No, I can't. But if you put your dick back in, we can have a good time..." she said, trying not to sound like she was begging.

"Okay, how about this, then," Bobby said, taking hold of her hips and pressing the head of his real cock to her pussy. "How about I tell you who your boss is?"

Angelica looked up at him in surprise.

"Your boss's name is Howard..." At this point, Bobby shoved his cock forcibly into her well-lubed hole. "Shapley, right?"

"AHHH! How did you know? Omigod, so good!" she screamed, all in one breath. She was panting as Bobby continued to fuck her harder than he ever had with his TK. Finally, she regained herself. "I mean - ah, ah - what makes you think he's my - oh, god - boss?"

"I wasn't sure until just now," Bobby said, thrusting strongly into her pussy. "But I had a suspicion. You were seen at his house."

"Oh, god... don't stop, please! One of the parties... who are you?" she asked.

Bobby ignored the question, and pulled out of her. She actually reached for him. Instead, he grabbed her hip and rolled her over. She got the idea, and was quickly up on all fours. As Bobby slid his dick back into her, he finally answered her question.

"Someone who saw your videotape," Bobby answered.

"What... oh, fuck me, yes, harder! What tape?"

"The tape of you having sex with the man at the party. Why did you tell him you were Shapley's wife?"

"Oh, fuck... yes, you're good at this! Mmmm... It's what the boss told me to say. He didn't want them to know I was an escort."

"Them? You've done this more than once?"

"Yeah... ohmmmyeah. Five or six times."

"So that Shapley could film it."

"He did? Shit... oh, fuck, faster! So close... I didn't know that." At this point, Angelica began to shudder, and screamed out in an actual orgasm. This was as surprising to her as it was to Bobby. "Oh, god fuck me shit yes that's so goddamned good!"

Bobby continued to slam into her throughout her orgasm. Finally, she started to come down, and he slowed his thrusting, but he didn't withdraw. He let her catch her breath, just stroking slowly in and out of her to keep himself aroused. Even that caused little shudders throughout her body.

"Fuck, lover," she finally said. "I don't usually actually come with a guy. You are a stud!"

"No," Bobby said, chuckling to himself, "I just know a couple tricks. So you didn't know anything about the videos?"

"God, I've said way too much..."

"Come on, Angelica. You're already in it. Might as well go all the way. Besides, I've got another thirty minutes."

"I don't think I can survive another thirty minutes of you, lover! But okay, no, I didn't know anything about the videos. He just told me who to have sex with at the party, and to tell them I was his wife."

"Do you know if any of the other girls at the service do this?"

"Oh, yeah. There's usually two or three of us at each party."

"I see. And what do you know about his blackmailing activities?"

Angelica shook her head. "He'd kill me."

Bobby began to thrust harder inside her, to start warming her up. "Time for another of those little tricks I know..."

"Oh, god..."

Bobby reformed his telekinetic dick, only in a slightly slimmer form, and pressed it to her ass.

"Oh, Jesus Fucking Christ, how do you do that!" she cried out. Soon, his phantom dick was deep inside her ass, and his real dick was slamming into her pussy.

Angelica was quickly panting again.

"Now, what do you know about Shapley blackmailing people?"

"He... ungh! He always has us keep a record of... oh, fuck! of our clients... especially if they have wives. Oh, god, yeah, that's good! Um... then he threatens... oh fuck... yeah, to call their wives unless they give him what he wants."

Bobby reached forward and played with her tits as he continued plying her pussy and ass. "And how do you know this?"

"I've... oh, fucking Christ... I've been in the room when he's made the calls. He trusts me. I am so fucking dead."

Bobby pinched her nipples, and the orgasm that had been pending for the last few seconds blasted through her like an explosion. She screamed and arched her back. Bobby slammed into her a few more times, then let loose his own climax into her pussy. He disintegrated the prick in her ass, and slowly, he pulled out of her pussy. She slowly slumped down onto the bed and curled up, trying to recover from the intense orgasm.

Bobby went into the bathroom and turned the shower on. He really needed to clean up. He walked back into the bedroom, and saw her still lying there, her eyes closed, but she was obviously awake.

"C'mon, let's take a shower."

"God, you can't want more?"

"We both need to clean up, and I still have you on the clock."

"Fair enough."

Once in the shower, Angelica did her best to clean Bobby all over. Then she let him do the same to her.

"I won't get you in trouble, Angelica. I'm not going to tell Shapley that you gave me any information. I just needed to know what he was up to."

"Who are you?"

"I'm not Jake Palatine, that's for sure," he said with a smile.

"But... they always check..."

"What they can't check is if someone paid Jake to make the reservation and use his apartment."

"What are you going to do to me?" she asked, suddenly pale.

"Nothing. I just wanted to make it clear that I wasn't who you thought I was. I am an investigator. Beyond that, you don't need to know anything. I would advise not saying anything to Howard, of course. If you do, you'll have to explain what you told me, and then you really will be in trouble."

"Fuck. So you're blackmailing me."

"Not as such, no. I'm just saying that it's in your interest not to tell Howard this was anything more than a normal job."

"You're fucking with my meal ticket, you know."

"I am aware. To make it up to you, I'd like to hire you for another three hours. Mandy said that I could do that if I liked you."

"God. I'm gonna be dead in a whole 'nother way," she said with a bit of a smile.

Bobby smirked at her. "Nah, I want you to take care of the real Jake Palatine. He should be back in a half hour or so."

"He won't be as much fun," she said, stroking Bobby's cock.

"Maybe not, but I owe it to him."

"Okay," she said. Seeing that she had managed to arouse him yet again, Angelica slid to her knees and took his dick into her mouth. She was quickly bobbing her head on his shaft, and Bobby was lost to the pleasure. It took quite some time, being his third go for the night, but Angelica had great stamina. She continued working over his cock until finally he blew his load down her throat. After that, she stood up and gave him a smile.

"Why do you really wear the shades?" she asked. "Even in here?"

"To hide my identity," he said simply.

"You think I can't identify you without seeing your eyes?" she said demurely.

"Not once I've got clothes on," he said with a smirk as they turned off the water and stepped out of the shower.

"Okay, good point," she said. "But it really wasn't necessary. You're right; I can't say anything to Howard, or he'd kill me. What do you plan to do?"

"Nothing you should worry yourself over too much. I'll make sure you girls are looked after."

"Fair enough."

~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~

"Enjoy yourself last night?" Terrier asked derisively. Curtis had, of course, related his plans to the others just in case anything had gone wrong.

Curtis stared Russell down, an easy feat when he was wearing his black visor, as he was now. "You've got a real problem, kid. I don't know whether you were raised too strictly, or what, but you seem to think this is a job where you can keep from getting your hands dirty."

"Hey, I can do what's required, but c'mon! You just wanted to get your rocks off!"

"Oh? And how would you have interrogated Angelica? For that matter, how would you have found Angelica?"

"Couldn't have been that hard," Terrier answered lamely.

"Really. So you have no idea how you would have found her. Then shut the fuck up until you're spoken to."

"So what did you find out?" Amber asked.

"This guy's got his hooks into a lot of people. Angelica's service is owned by Shapley. They keep records of their important clients, and then blackmail them. She was unaware of the videotape, though. She was genuinely surprised by that... though it didn't bother her."

"So does that get us anywhere?"

"It lets me know there are things that Shapley won't want out in the open, too. That means we can blackmail the blackmailer."

"If you can find the evidence," Amber said.

"True. But that won't be as hard as it could have been. Shapley isn't the trusting sort. He doesn't have any household servants, even in a house the size of his. He makes all the girls do the work... but only when he's home to keep an eye on them. That means that when he's gone, the house is empty."

"So you can go in and look around."

"Right. I need to talk to Grant about some equipment. Did you make any headway looking into the country club?"

"Not a thing. It appears to be clean. The director of the place has no known affiliation with Shapley. Ownership of the club is above board. I don't think there's anything there. He might have an accomplice there..."

"But finding him would be a pain in the ass. I think I'd prefer to search his house."

"Anything to break the law," Terrier muttered. He was greatly disillusioned with the way Paladin did his job, and couldn't restrain from saying so.

In under a second, Terrier was flying backward through the air. He slammed rather painfully into a work table, and crumpled to the ground. Curtis got up and crossed the room. He used his telekinesis to pick Terrier up by the throat and pinned him against the wall.

"You don't like how I work, you can leave. If you speak out of turn again, they will have to replace you, because I will put you in the hospital for six months. Is that understood?"

Terrier's eyes burned at Curtis, and he didn't answer.

Curtis tightened his telekinetic grip. "IS THAT UNDERSTOOD?" he bellowed.

"Yeah," Russell gasped, barely able to breathe. Curtis dropped him like a sack of potatoes, and he crumpled to the ground.

"I'd suggest you stay out of my sight entirely for a few days. For your own safety," Bobby snarled. He turned to Amber, nodded, and then walked out to go find Grant.

Amber looked at Russell with no pity whatsoever. "Just how big a moron are you?" She shook her head at him, and walked out, leaving him there on the floor gasping for air and sore in a dozen places.

-----

Unfortunately for Terrier, he was not able to avoid Paladin for long, because he was needed on the night's mission. They had, however, approached the target by separate means.

In his ear, Paladin heard, "Okay, he's leaving the house now."

Fuck this up, kid, and I'll kick you in the balls, Paladin thought to himself. Out loud, he said, "Roger that."

Paladin counted to one hundred, and then made his way up to the back of the house. It was secluded back here, with a six-foot privacy fence. This worked to Paladin's advantage, as no one could see him working. He picked the lock on the back door - a skill he had learned during his time as an agent - and was soon inside.

Immediately he heard the warning beep of the alarm system. This was where Grant's expertise had been necessary. Paladin made his way to the panel and slipped a device in between the panel and the wall. He clicked the device on, and in twenty seconds, the alarm beeped to Off and a green light on the device flipped on. Now Paladin could work in peace.

Moving carefully through the house, so as not to disturb anything, Paladin searched each room. He started downstairs, then moved upstairs. When he finally found the video control room, he smiled.

Ten minutes later, his smile had turned to a scowl, for it was clear that there were no tapes kept in this room. He wondered if perhaps everything was kept on computer disk instead of tape, but he saw no servers to store the information. He knew that they could be anywhere, and so he moved on to other rooms, continuing his search.

"Terrier, Paladin. Report in," he ordered.

"He's at dinner with some guy. They just now got their food," he said quietly.

"10-4."

Paladin found the stairs that led up to the attic, and went on up. Here was the usual collection of boxes and crap that people keep in an attic, but he saw nothing along the lines of tapes or computers to hold the information.

There was only one last place to look. Paladin headed down to the basement, an area that was not well lit. He flipped his vision to infrared, but that was only marginally more useful, until he brought out his infrared flashlight. This allowed him to see in total darkness without being seen himself. Since there were basement windows, he didn't want to use a normal flashlight, which might be seen from outside.

A twenty-minute search of the basement still found nothing, and Paladin was now swearing to himself.

Where the fuck is this guy keeping the material? Either he's keeping it off-site, or he's got the damnedest hiding spot that I've ever seen! I've been all over this place, and nothing!

In his ear, Paladin suddenly heard, "He looks like he's heading home now."

"Roger that."

Paladin immediately went back upstairs to the alarm panel. He pressed a button on the special device, which was still inserted behind the panel, and the green light turned amber, then red. The alarm panel switched back to "Away" mode, and started the beeping that tells you to get out before the alarm system goes active.

Paladin was not only out of the house, but out of the back yard before the system was ready.

~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~

"No luck at all?" Amber asked.

"Not a goddamned thing. If there's anything in that house, it's hidden really well. I want to check out the blueprints for the building; maybe there's a secret area."

"Good thinking. I'll put in a call to the building department."

"Assuming there's not a secret room, what does that leave you?" Terrier asked. He was a bit leery of speaking up, but had to ask the question.

Curtis didn't have a problem with reasonably intelligent questions like that one. "I'm not sure. Somehow, I'm going to have to get him to give up the material, or otherwise show me where it is so that I can gain access to it. I don't yet know how to do that."

"You could always scare it out of him... just threaten to beat him to a pulp..."

"Too much chance of him trying to fake me out on.... hmmm. It does give me an idea, though. Hey, you're not completely useless after all!"

"Uh, thanks," Terrier said to a retreating back.

-----

"Hey, boss. What's up?"

"I need some info. How advanced is holographic technology?"

"Publicly, not very."

"And privately?"

"The government does have some projects that have shown significant progress. What're you looking for?"

"A ghost," Curtis said with a smile. Grant gave him a cocked eyebrow and waited. Curtis said, "I want to make someone think they are seeing spirits. I need to project an apparition into the middle of a room, which can be seen from all sides. Can that be done?"

"It's tricky... but it can be done. The really hard part is that the equipment has to have a clear shot to the middle of the room... nothing in the way."

"How big is this stuff?"

"Oh, it's not that big, but it'd be noticeable in any room you put it in. I mean, the projector is about the size of a standard PC tower on its side."

"Is there any way to disguise it?"

"The box, yes... so long as the projector lenses and openings are uncovered."

"How big are they?"

"Oh... maybe an eighth of an inch. But there are three of them."

"Can you get me the gear? I need to see if this is feasible, or if I need to go in another direction."

"Sure thing. I'll have it here tomorrow."

"Thanks."

~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~

"This isn't very small," Terrier said after seeing the device.

"When you consider what it does, it's downright tiny," Grant replied. "This is all the components of a holographic generator, in essentially a PC case. This isn't just an image projector; it is also an environment manipulator."

"What's that mean?" Terrier asked.

"You have to project the image onto something. This thing manipulates the air so that it can hold an image. Please don't make me go all techie on your ass..." Grant said with a grin. Terrier waved him off.

"What about power source?" Curtis asked.

"It will need to be powered by AC somehow. I don't know how you plan to pull this off covertly. The best place for these projectors is sitting on a table in the middle of the room. That would be just a bit conspicuous."

"You let me worry about that. How do you give it the images to display?"

"You can program the images in before installation, or you can upload images through the USB port, DVD drive, or the control system. The control is wireless, so uploading images can take a while that way."

"I bet."

"Bobby, how do you plan to do this?" Amber asked.

"Through the ceiling in his bedroom. The attic is right above it. The house has textured ceilings, which means hiding these holes should be easy... they'll just look like shadows. It's just a pinhole, basically, right?"

"Yes, a hole about an eighth of an inch in diameter, as I said yesterday."

"There you go. And since I'll be in the attic, I'll have access to the house wiring for power. Here's a good question... can electrical wiring be 'tapped'? You know, get power from it without cutting into it?"

"Again, there are ways. You should have told me you needed that. I'll have to order it."

"That's okay. It'll take me a while to work out what I want this thing to do."

"This box is heavy enough to fall through the ceiling," Terrier objected.

"I may have to add a support or two for it. No big deal. One of the things Angelica mentioned to me is that this guy is superstitious like you wouldn't believe. I'm going to use that to our advantage."

"How are you going to get him out of the house long enough to do the installation? This could take hours!" Amber objected.

"Nah. Thirty minutes, tops. All I have to do is drill a few holes, put up a couple pieces of blocking, and position this thing where I need it. Say, Grant, what's the angle on this? I mean, how far away from straight down can I move my hologram?"

"Not very far... maybe a few feet side to side. You'll need to extend the lens for that, so make sure you do that when you install it. Also, since you are installing it basically upside-down, remember to flip your images, or they'll all be walking on the ceiling."

The group chuckled at that, and then they all split up to go about their work.

~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~

Paladin sat in a corner of the basement, waiting. This was one of only two areas not covered by security devices, and he was waiting for the master of the house to go to bed. Paladin was playing ghost tonight.

Finally, Terrier reported that the lights in the bedroom had gone out. Paladin waited another full hour, so that Howard Shapley would be fully asleep, before he got up. Waiting was never fun, but he'd had a lot of practice in the FBI.

As Paladin made his way quietly up the basement stairs, he pulled a small box out of his pocket. On it were a series of switches. Paladin stopped at the top of the stairs, just out of sight of the security camera for the kitchen.

He flipped the switch numbered six, and counted to ten. Nothing happened, and Paladin could only hope that the device was doing its intended job. He flipped on switch eight, and flipped switch six off. After another twenty seconds, he flipped off eight and flipped on switch one. This one corresponded to the kitchen, and now he stepped into the kitchen. He walked slowly, not hurrying, but trying to be as silent as possible.

As he was about to enter the living room, he flipped on its switch, and when he was inside the living room, he flipped off the switch for the kitchen. He continued this way, wandering through each of the downstairs rooms, before heading up the stairs.

This was the trickiest part, because the stairs might creak, as well as the floor upstairs. He had to work to be quiet now, and he moved even more slowly because of it. It took him a full ten minutes to make it to Shapley's bedroom.

Shapley did not close his bedroom door, because he was the kind of person who wanted to hear if anything was happening in his home. Paladin slipped a small camera around the corner to look into the room. He saw Shapley, asleep in his bed. The man's snoring could clearly be heard. It also confirmed that there was no one else with Shapley.

Paladin stepped into the bedroom and moved stealthily through it into the bathroom. He flipped on his infrared flashlight, and used his IR vision to see what he was doing. He took a bottle of synthetic blood out of his pocket. On the mirror, he wrote, "What are you doing, Howard?" Paladin made sure there were no drips; that would spoil the effect.

Paladin moved back out into the bedroom, and he looked around briefly. He spotted what he needed, and then he left the bedroom, remembering to keep up his switch-flipping routine. He made his way to the attic stairs, and stepped into the stairwell. He continued to flip switches, to disguise his actual path, until he'd covered the entire upstairs. Once that was done, he made his way up into the attic.

Paladin crept across the ceiling joists until he reached the spot above the bedroom. He'd spent a lot of time setting up his equipment here; he had to remember to thank Grant for all his help.

Settling down in front of the equipment, Paladin readied himself. He flipped on the speaker system, which had turned the entire ceiling of the bedroom into one large speaker. He turned up the volume to what would be more or less a whisper, and then he began to play the recordings he'd made.

-----

Shapley did not wake as voices started to call his name in whispers, but he did become restless. He turned over and settled back into sleep for another few minutes. The whispers started to get louder, and then finally they were speaking in normal tones, loud enough that he had no choice but to wake up.

The voices continued for another few seconds, and then a loud clap of thunder filled the room.

"What the fuck was that?" he asked himself groggily. He rubbed at his eyes, then he got up to go into the bathroom to relieve himself.

When Shapley turned on the bathroom light, he saw the writing on the mirror. He took a step back, and was a little shaky.

Just then, a bright flash occurred, which he took to be lightning, but this time, he saw in the mirror what appeared to be a shadowed figure behind him. Shapley spun, wondering how anyone could have gotten into his house...

Shapley froze as he saw a vase hurtling toward him. He cringed and closed his eyes, with no time to get out of the way. For the longest moment he awaited the impact, which did not come. When he opened his eyes again, he found the vase was sitting back on its shelf, as if it had never moved, and the shadowy figure he'd seen, or at least thought he'd seen, was nowhere to be found.

Just then, the voices returned. They were calling his name, and then one said, clearly, "What have you done, Howard?" The voice was feminine, and slightly familiar to him. At that point, the voices were immediately silenced.

Shapley was badly shaken now. He made his way to the toilet and relieved himself - an action that was far more necessary now than it had been when he'd gotten up - and then went back into the bedroom. He turned on the light and looked around for things that were out of place, but the room was completely normal.

Howard made his way into the security room, and sat down in front of the console. Above him, Paladin followed, carefully creeping through the attic. Paladin had set up a minuscule observation hole so that he could see what Shapley would do.

Shapley sat down and flipped switches to rewind the tapes. He went back a full hour and set them to playing. When the tapes got to the point where Paladin had begun to move, one of them went to static. Shapley saw that at once, and watched carefully. Soon, another camera went to static, and the first one slowly cleared. Time after time, this process repeated itself. The cameras followed a path, Shapley realized, starting in the great room and wandering through the house.

After an hour, Shapley had seen everything the tapes had to offer. None of the doors had lost coverage; no one could have entered the house during the static times. He was sure there was no one else in the house.

So what the fuck is going on?

Shapley went back to his bedroom and sat down in a chair. There, he dozed off with the light on.

Upstairs, Paladin smiled. Your hell has just begun, Mr. Shapley. Just wait until tomorrow night.

~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~

Shapley propped himself up in bed, and reached for the remote. He'd not slept well over the last couple nights, having been disturbed repeatedly by Paladin. The disturbances were growing, but had not yet yielded results. Tonight, Paladin would go a step further, and Shapley was helping his plan along right now.

Shapley turned on the television to a news show, and settled back to watch the day's events.

Upstairs, Paladin smiled, and then flipped two switches.

In the bedroom, the news disappeared from the TV, to be replaced by a scene that took place in Shapley's Great Room. Shapley immediately recognized it as one of his swing parties, and he looked closer, to recognize that this was, in fact, one of the tapes he'd used to blackmail people with.

"What the hell?" he said to himself, and got up to look at the TV. First, he checked the VCR, which wasn't even on, and - he checked - didn't have a tape in it. He pulled the cable receiver out from the wall, but saw no additional wires going to it.

Walking back to his bed, Shapley picked up the remote and flipped the TV off, then on again. The scene remained. He flipped through the channels, but they were all identical. This was because Paladin had tapped into the cable line running into the bedroom, and was sending his own feed.

Just then, the voices started again. They were calling Shapley's name. Once again, one of the voices sounded familiar, but he couldn't quite place it just now.

"Shut up, Shut up, SHUT UP!" He screamed, and clamped his hands over his ears. He threw the remote at the TV, luckily missing it, but the remote broke against the wall, its housing coming apart as it fell. Shapley ran out of the room, and Paladin instantly cut off the voices.

Paladin wondered why Shapley didn't try to sleep in one of the guest rooms. This would have been a pain for Paladin, but not unduly difficult. In any case, Shapley seemed determined to sleep in his own bed every night, which made Paladin's life easier. He settled in to wait for Shapley to return. From the last couple nights' experience, he was sure it wouldn't take long.

-----

Sure enough, Shapley was back in the room within twenty minutes. He'd once again convinced himself that he was just tired. Paladin had flipped the cable back to normal; he didn't want Shapley to get too suspicious.

After another hour or so, Shapley turned off the light and settled in to sleep. Twenty minutes after that, the whispers began again.

Paladin knew from FBI reports that people are extremely suggestible during sleep. He was hoping that this would help his plans.

The whisperers were repeating, "The tapes, Howard. Bring us the tapes..."

Paladin had decided to tap into the video feed for the bedroom, which allowed him to work more easily. What he was trying now was tricky enough, anyway.

On the top of the bookcase in the bedroom, Paladin had hidden what looked like a glue stick, but it had been painted, so that it was all white, just like the walls in this bedroom. He reached out with his telekinesis, and removed the top from the tube. Then he carefully twisted it until the substance inside was poking out.

Inside the tube was a substance that was mostly clear. Once applied to a surface, you would not be able to see it in daylight. There was just enough tritium in it, however, to make it glow in the dark.

For the next twenty minutes, Paladin carefully painted the name of all but one of Shapley's victims on the walls. He was saving the last one.

At this point, Paladin ramped up the volume of the voices. He didn't change the message, however. He did add in a few other voices to the mix, including the feminine voice, which was actually a computer-altered simulation of Shapley's own voice. Research showed that a person reacted most favorably to a voice similar to their own.

As Shapley started to toss and turn, clearly waking up, Paladin turned on the holographic projector. He had used this the first night, to give the impression of the shadowy figure caught in the flash of light. Now, he used it to create more flashes of light, helping to bring Shapley awake. He ramped up the volume on the voices, and concentrated on the "glue stick", holding it ready to write on the wall.

Shapley finally snapped awake. Paladin reached over and turned off the holographic projector, but not the voices. He amped up the feminine voice, though, which was the one that asked, in a seemingly sad tone, "Howard, what have you done?"

Shapley sat up straight in bed, and then began to cower against his headboard. At that moment, Paladin began to write the final name on the wall. As the tube was white, like the wall behind it, Shapley couldn't see it in the darkness, and only saw that letters were magically appearing on his walls.

Shapley began to quake in fear, and Paladin, now finished with the name, ramped up the volume on the feminine voice, which now said, "Look at them, Howard! Look at all you have harmed!"

"Mama?" Howard asked in a near-delusional state. This was a twist for Paladin; he'd not expected Shapley to think the voice was a family member. He quickly adapted, though. He pulled out the keyboard for the voice modulator unit and typed in new text.

"How could you do this, Howard? How could you shame me this way?"
"Mama, I..."

Just then, Paladin flipped on the projector again. This time, floating in mid-air, was the same scene from earlier. It was the scene with Angelica and Daniel in the Great Room.

"What have they done to deserve your punishment?" the voice asked. "Your time is coming soon, son, if you do not fix this... I cannot protect you forever..."

Just then, Paladin pulled out his greatest, and most difficult, trick. Through a fourth hole that he'd drilled in the ceiling, Paladin puffed out some carbon dust. Reaching out with his mind, he struggled to contain it, first forming it into a tight ball. Once he had control of it, he reached over and hit another button. Just then, a horrible shriek filled the bedroom. Paladin worked to manipulate the carbon dust as he typed new messages.

As the carbon dust flowed across the ceiling, now looking something like a rounded triangular sheet, the feminine voice said, "It's coming for you, Howard. I can't stop it forever. Howard...." The voice faded into echo.

"Mama! What can I do? MAMA!"

Just then, the other voices, which had never been silenced, built in volume. "The tapes, Howard... Bring us the tapes!"

"There is little time, Howard," the mother-voice said, but faintly, with a deep echo. "I can't stop them forever..."

At that, the whole room faded into silence. Shapley got up and slapped on the lights, and the writing on the walls promptly disappeared. He flipped the lights off again, and the words reappeared, and so did the voices. Howard quickly turned the light back on, and silence descended. Only a wispy trace of the carbon dust remained, as Paladin had used his TK to pull it back up through the hole in the ceiling.

Shapley lowered himself slowly into a chair, shaking like a leaf. He pulled his knees up to his chest, and then hugged them. He sat like that, rocking back and forth, until he finally fell asleep.

Paladin grinned. The night ain't over yet, you bastard.

~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~

"My God, Mr. Shapley, you look awful!" Angelica said upon seeing him. It had been two more almost-sleepless nights of Paladin's torture, and Shapley was beginning to doubt his sanity. He'd called for one of his girls in the hopes that some recreation would allow him some peace.

Paladin had been preparing for this eventuality, as well. He'd laid more ceiling speakers, this time turning the hallway ceiling into a series of speakers. He was thinking that he'd have to take Grant to lunch or something to thank him for all the help on this one.

He was surprised to see Angelica, but it didn't matter who had come, he just needed a second person for this particular event. He watched carefully as the two spoke. They were now heading down the hall. Paladin flipped on his programmed sounds.

"What is that?" Angelica asked, a little fearful. The whispering voices had begun as soon as they'd gotten to the top of the stairs.

"You can hear them too?" Shapley asked. When Angelica nodded, he was actually slightly relieved; so he wasn't going crazy.

"They've been after me for days! I can't get any sleep, and now they're starting to invade the rest of the house!"

"The tapes! Bring us the tapes!" the whispers called out.

Just then, a cloud of black ooze came through the ceiling, spreading out into a thin sheet.

Angelica shrank back, behind Shapley, and screamed, "What's that?"

Just then, the inky black form, which began to look vaguely like a figure.... or at least it had a head distinct from its amorphous body... began a terrifying screech, and swooped down off the ceiling, racing toward the two.

Angelica didn't wait any longer, she turned around and broke for the stairs, terrified and screaming bloody murder. Shapley was frozen in terror; he knew running was pointless; the creature would just wait to get him later.

"YOU ARE MINE, HOWARD!" the voice screamed in an unholy shriek. The demon swirled around Shapley without touching him, and then it flew back up to the ceiling, once again disappearing, leaving only what looked like a small scorch mark behind.

Howard fell to the floor, sitting on his ass and looking up at the ceiling.

"The tapes, Howard... only the tapes can save you," the voices whispered.

"Y-yes... the t-tapes..." he said, mostly to himself.

"Bring us the tapes, Howard!" they insisted.

Howard sat for a long moment as the whispers continued, but then he shakily got to his feet and headed toward the stairs. The whispers increased in volume to follow him down the stairs.

"Bring us the tapes, Howard! The tapes!"

He was out the door before the voices cut off. Paladin sat in his attic hideaway, laughing.

-----

Paladin was waiting when Shapley returned. It had taken the man much, much longer than Paladin had expected. It was already dark by the time Shapley walked into the bedroom, lugging a fairly heavy box.

Shapley set the box on the bed, and then stood there, looking around, not sure of exactly what to do next. Finally, Shapley nervously called out, "Are you here?"

Paladin counted ten, then flipped on the whispers. "The tapes, Howard... Bring us the tapes..."

"I have them! I have them right here!" he cried out.

Paladin did some furious typing. It had taken Grant two days of work to pull off the next trick, but they'd managed it. Below, in the room, the lights went out as Paladin interrupted the circuit. Then, an image appeared in the room, standing a few feet away from Shapley.

Shapley turned to see what was there, and fell to his knees.

"Mama! Mama, is that you?"

The "ghost" walked over to the box and appeared to look down into it. Then she looked back at Shapley.

"This isn't all of it, Howard," she accused.

"It is! I swear, Mama! That's every last one of them! Even the old ones I don't even use anymore! Mama, you've got to believe me!"

Paladin did believe him; the man was nearly hysterical with fear. Paladin knew it was time to wrap this up. He flipped another switch. In the room below, a faint shriek was heard.

"Mama, no! I swear, these are all of them! I don't have anything else! I promise!"

"I will have my vengeance!" the voice shrieked, clearly getting closer.

The whispers came back then. "Run, Howard. Run!"

Shapley's "mother" spoke, as well. "We can't stop him, Howard! You've got to leave! Now! Before he comes for you! Don't look back, and don't come back here for at least three days! Go, NOW!"

Howard bolted for the door. He didn't even stop to lock the front door, but ran as fast as he could to his car. In seconds, he was doing eighty down the street.

Paladin counted to thirty, then walked down the attic stairs. He had disrupted every camera in the house when he'd started the shrieking of the banshee, and he didn't set them right just yet. Instead, he went into the bedroom and grabbed the box. He was surprised at how heavy it was, and he saw that there was a mother lode of materials. Paladin carried the box out back and through the gate, to his car a quarter mile away. Only then did he return to the house to clean up after himself. He was quite sure that Shapley would not be back in the house any time soon.

~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~

"You look tired," Amber said.

Curtis yawned. "Just having to readjust my schedule. I've been up all night for the last week, and switching to days is a tough transition."

"Did you get what you wanted?" she asked.

"Oh, yeah." Bobby waved to the box in the corner. Amber went over to look in it, and whistled.

"That's a lot of stuff!"

"Yeah, I know. And you're going to have to process all of it."

"What do you mean?"

"I want you to identify as many people as you can from the tapes, so that we can give them back their lives."

Amber sauntered over to his desk and smiled down at him. "You know, if you wanted me horny, you didn't have to bring me porn to watch."

Bobby smiled. "Tonight?"

"I'll be there," she said with a wink.

"Make Terrier help you carry that to the lab. It's too heavy."

"I'm a big girl," Amber sniffed.

"If you hurt yourself now, we won't have any fun later," he said with a lecherous smile and a cocked eyebrow.

Amber grinned and nodded.

As Amber left, Bobby leaned back in his chair. Now, how to punish our good friend Mr. Shapley...

~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~

It was a week before Shapley returned to his home, shaken and defeated. He walked cautiously through the house, wondering at every turn if something was going to come out of the woodwork and kill him.

Shapley flinched visibly when the doorbell rang. He opened it slowly, to find what looked like a courier standing there.

"Howard Shapley?" the man asked. He was tall and wore dark sunglasses, but Shapley had no fears of him.

"Yes?"

"Package for you, sir. If you could just sign here, please." The courier handed over a heavy clipboard with a form on it. "By the X, sir."

Shapley scribbled his name on the form, and handed it back. The courier handed the box over, and left. Shapley didn't give a second thought to the courier as he took the package inside. Had he known that the "courier" had been tormenting him all the previous week, he would certainly have reacted differently.

Shapley set the box down on a table, and went to get a knife to cut open the box. After cutting through the tape, Shapley carefully opened the flaps.

As he did so, a loud shriek emanated from the box, and a cloud of black dust exploded in his face. Shapley staggered back and fell, waiting for the end to come. When he realized that he was covered in some kind of inky dust, and that there was no demon waiting to kill him, he swore.

Shapley got up and fretfully looked back into the box. There he found a high-end MP3 player hooked to high-fidelity speakers. Some sort of small cannon-looking device was obviously where the dust had come from. There was a note in the box, as well. Shapley picked it up and read it.

Greetings from your Mama.

Are you sure of what you just signed?

Paladin

What the fuck is this about? Who the hell is Paladin? Wait... no one knows I called my mother "Mama"... she died when I was eight! What the fuck...

It was a goddamned hoax! Some... SONOFABITCH tricked me! And now he's got all of my material!

What's he mean by am I sure of what I signed? Signed what? Signed... the only thing I signed was for the package...

Why was that clipboard so thick?

~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~

"Terrier, what's the follow-up on Shapley?" Paladin had tasked Terrier with following Shapley after things were settled.

"Well, once you kicked him out of his house, he ended up living in one of those transient hotels. With the release of the other information about his prostitution scandals and the insinuation by some of the girls that he was blackmailing people, he couldn't find a decent job. He is currently working at Burger King."

"Good."

"How did you take his house?" Amber wanted to know.

Paladin pulled out his clipboard from a desk drawer and showed it to her. "Ever been to one of those doctor's offices where they use electronic clipboards? You sign a real sheet of paper, but the clipboard stores your signature electronically on an electronic copy of that same form? Ever wonder what you were actually signing on those things? Shapley should have. The paper he signed was just a delivery signature sheet. The electronic document he signed - and it's his real signature, so it stood up in court - was turning over all his possessions to my dummy corporation."

"That's tricky. And mean. I love it. What are you going to do with all of it?"

"Sell it. I'm going to give a quarter of the proceeds to his victims, another quarter will go to establish a new life for his girls. The rest... well, it has its own purpose."

"What are you going to do with the sluts?" Terrier wanted to know.

Paladin eyed him crossly. "They're all moving to Nevada," he said in half-explanation. Amber giggled. "Now I have some other business to attend to."

As everyone was filing out, Bobby said, "Hey, Grant."

Grant turned around. Terrier left, but Amber stayed at the door.

"Yes, sir?" Grant asked.

"I just wanted to say thanks for your help on this one. I couldn't have pulled it off without your gadgets."

"Thank you, sir. Sir, can I ask a question?"

"Shoot."

"Could Ms. Langdon have done better?"

Bobby looked at Amber for a second, but she didn't react to the question. He sat back in his chair and took a deep breath. Finally, he said, "Theoretically, she could have done just as well... but she doesn't have your contacts in the government, so... no, she couldn't have done better... probably not even as well as you did, which was pretty damned good."

"Thank you, sir," Grant said, smiling, and then leaving. Amber grinned at Bobby, and then left.

-----

"Mr. Curtis, how can I help you today?" Frank Cutter asked him. Bobby had come back to Cutter, Jaymes and Royce because they knew him, and they owed him a favor. He hoped this would make them extra-discreet.

"I need to engage your firm's services," he told the man. "Can we talk privately?"

"Certainly. Come this way." Cutter took Bobby's arm gently and led him back to the office.

"What can we do for you?" Cutter asked.

"I need to distribute money to a select group of people, without them knowing who is giving it to them. Each of them also will need to have delivered a note, and a video tape."

"Not a problem. Do you have the list with you?"

"Not just yet. It's still being compiled. I'm just getting the procedures set in place for when I have everything ready for distribution."

"Okay, there's no problem there, it's fairly easy to do. Just give us the names and addresses, the amounts, and of course, the material, and we'll have it sent from here."

Curtis nodded. "Also, I need you to buy some property for me, in Nevada."

"Why..."

"In rural Nevada. Outside Clark County." Curtis arched one eyebrow, to see if Cutter could take the hint.

"You're opening a brothel?" Cutter said with a grin.

"One of my last cases involved a great many young ladies of that profession. I cost them their jobs, so I need to take care of those who can't find other meaningful employment. I'd prefer not to break the law, and the only place to do that is in Nevada."

Cutter smiled, forgetting that Bobby supposedly could not see him. "Understood. Will you need anything else in relation to that?"

"No, the other details, I will deal with myself. I just do not want my name on any paperwork."

"That can be arranged," Cutter said conspiratorially. He was enjoying this meeting. "Is there anything else?"

"Yes, one last thing. I need you to establish for me an investment account. Again, I do not want my name attached to it. In about a month, I will have a sizeable chunk of funds to put into it."

"Are you looking for high risk, or a more conservative portfolio?"

"Half and half."

"I understand. If I may ask, why the sudden interest in investment?"

"Let's just say that my current endeavor... has encouraged me to make sure my future is secured, and leave it at that."

"About your current endeavor... you mentioned 'cases'. I thought you were a venture capitalist."

"Something I used to tell people, Mr. Cutter. It was a lie. I work as an investigator and troubleshooter, for the kinds of problems that the police can't seem to deal with. If your firm should happen to have clients who need my services, please feel free to contact me." Bobby handed over a card. "My associate and I are always happy to help."

"Associate?"

"My field agent. Obviously I cannot work alone; I'm blind."

"Good point," Cutter replied. "Will I meet him?"

"Not if you're lucky. He's not a very pleasant fellow most of the time. That's why I handle all of the contacts, and let him deal with the unsavory side of this business."

"But you never charge anyone. How can you afford -"

Bobby held up his hand. "I have many resources." To distract the man from further questions that he didn't feel like inventing answers for, he said, "I would also like to put your firm on retainer, for any needs I may have in the future."

Cutter smiled. The retainer for the firm was not a trivial sum. "Yes, sir. I'll have JoAnne get your account set up for you."

~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~

~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~