Akiko in the Afternoon (mc, ff, fd)
By Aerosol Kid <aerosol_kid@hotmail.com>
Visit me at http://www.asstr.org/~AK_Home
The people and events in this come from my brain, not the real
world. Regardless of what that tells you about my brain, it means
that I'm not writing about you, your mom, your friends, or your
friend's friends. So you can't sue me. Neener neener.
If you're under age in your territory (and you know what I mean),
then read something else.
Note - This is the first part of a new series about secret agent Akiko
Masumi. In it we catch up with her as she gets a new assignment.
There's really only one sex scene, so if you're looking for sex and
lots of it, now's the time to bail. I do promise to crank up the heat
in the next installments ;-)
(c) 2001 Aerosol Kid
Sometimes looking this good can be kind of irritating. I know that
sounds terrible, like I'm *so* stuck up, but bear with me. I was
working this case on a gorgeously sunny afternoon in London during the
spring of 2003. As I wandered around the Green Park area, my outfit
was more attention than I was in the mood for. It was this
Emma Peel meets Japanese mod schoolgirl type thing. As the day wore
on, the novelty of my snug little sleeveless vest and skirt wore off.
It was like, hey ticket attendant guy, my eyes are up here! Sheesh.
I wasn't feeling nearly as extroverted as I had when I'd gotten dressed
that morning. Girls, you can relate, right?
And I definitely regretted the knee-length go-go boots: my dogs were
*barking.*
Mostly, I felt so bitchy because I was tired. I'd just flown into
Gatwick the night before, and I'd been pounding the pavement all day.
Today's job had me walking all over the place looking for a suspect,
and I was prone to fits of daydreaming. So every five minutes I found
myself spacing out on an memory.
*"Transfer to Geneva with me!" Max is pleading as she works the buttons
of my cocktail dress.*
*"Baby, not now." I don't want to talk about this. I just want to get
her out of her pumps and onto her back so we can get busy, but she's a
little drunk from the party. "Be still."*
*Max complies. "As you wish," she slurs dreamily.*
*"That's not what I meant." I'm frowning, trying to derail one of our
last nights together from its well-worn tracks.*
*When I have her out of her dress, she says, "Get the spray. Hypnotize
me."*
"Akiko, I've got a positive ID." The crackly voice in my head startled
me right out of my daydream.
"Talk to me, Roddy." Teensy implants used my skull as both a microphone
and a speaker membrane, so I could talk to my colleagues with no visible
hardware. Cool, if you didn't mind looking like a loony in public.
"There's a who fits the profile coming up Monck Street."
"Who spotted her?"
"I did. Akiko, I'm pretty sure it's her."
Roddy was my only friend left from my Nepthys days, and he was my
assistant on this case. "If you say it's her, then it's her, bud.
I'll be there as fast as I can."
We had lots of studly British operatives spread out in the area, and
I had to keep at least some of them between the Roddy had just
spotted and the trial witness that she was supposedly on her way to
kill. I radioed instructions as I trotted up Piccadilly. Seconds
later a black British spookmobile pulled up to me at the curb. The
driver smiled and waved me in.
"St. Ann's please, Simon!" I said, slipping into the passenger seat.
A dull ache went through my heels as the car eased into traffic. Yeah,
the go-go boots were a bad idea. It was up to the driver to shuttle me
over to the action now, so with nothing to do I slipped back into my
jetlag-induced stupor.
*"Can't we just fuck?" I'm asking Max. "Why not give that spray a
rest?"*
*"It's so hot when you spray me, baby. I can't get enough!" Max is
tugging at my skirt.*
*"I'm getting tired of that game."*
*"What if I spray you this time?" Max suggests hungrily.*
*I sigh. Run my fingers along her muscular thigh. "You know I don't
like that very much."
*Max giggles as she tries to prop herself up on one elbow. "I think we
both know that's a lie."*
*I look down at the bedspread as Max plays with my hair. Sighing again,
I tell her, "Okay. You can spray me. But only a little."*
This three-year-old memory wasn't sitting too well, so I made myself
snap out of it. Traffic on Victoria Street this time of day was
fairly thick, so it would probably be a few minutes before I could catch
up to my partner. "Status, Roddy."
"She's nearing St. Ann's, and the team's pulling back. So far, so
good."
Simon coughed politely. "I'm not sure how much longer we'll be, ma'am.
You might have better luck if I let you off at Broadway and you take
the rest on foot." Bless his heart.
"I see how it is," I razzed. "You got other fares to chase down."
He smiled charitably at my lame joke and pulled over the next chance he
got. I was out of that car like a shot, dodging government types with
briefcases as I sprinted over to Pye. In a hurry to see what my
partner had found.
We rarely worked the same cases, but during those days Roddy and I hung
our hats at the Global Intelligence Agency; the next thing up the food
chain after Nepthys. I no longer worked for Keeley, and Nepthys didn't
exist anymore, but I'll get to all that later. Today, a closed hearing
was in progress down at New Scotland Yard; very hush-hush, run jointly
by GIA and the British government. A few days earlier, the prosecution
team said they had a surprise witness, which caused a firestorm at HQ,
although I still knew fuck-all about it. Two days later, GIA
intercepted details of an assassination attempt on said witness. So
there I was, running around London with no idea why I was there or what
any of this was about. But you know what? Welcome to the life of a
secret agent.
Old Pye led me to St. Ann's, and I immediately spied my dreamy black
partner from Bristol, waiting across the street. He's hard to miss at
six five. Roddy was playing it cool, but he was definitely scoping
someone. I knew better than to just gawk in the same direction. "I'm
here. You still got her?"
"Yes. About twenty yards away."
"Is everyone in position?" I asked on our public frequency. All my
lads assured me that they were. "Be cool. We don't know if this is
our yet. Just shadow her and watch what she does."
I pulled out my cell phone and pretended to check my messages, while
Roddy seemed to read a paper. He looked the other way, so I risked a
glance at the girl. Way down the street, a little with a guitar
case stepped around some tourists. She had a stylishly messy bob, with
pretty accent strands, and she fit the description from the intel
exactly. There was something weird about her, though. Something in her
body language; the way she moved with complete focus, and the way she
picked her way through the crowd, eyes straight ahead.
Her behavior caused a familiar twinge between my legs. "Shit, Roddy.
This kid's been programmed."
He knew me well enough to believe me. "Well then, I think this is
your area. What do you recommend?"
"Listen up everybody," I said. "This is our mark. She's been
conditioned, seems to be extremely focused on her work. That means
she's more likely to notice us, so don't draw attention to yourselves
until I give the word."
That was good advice. Wish I'd followed it myself. But I was too
busy watching this little robot across the street, remembering
what it felt like to be in a trance, and what Max and I had discovered
later on our own; that we were addicted to it.
God, she was so hot! I tried not to stare at her curvy bod. Or at her
cute do with its fashionably messy bits sticking up here and there.
The wide-eyed look on her cherubic face was *such* a turn-on.
*I'm breathing heavily and the room is spinning. "Max! You gave me
too much! Nooooo." My neck gives out like I'm a newborn.*
*"You know you love it, Agent Masumi," Max is cooing in my ear. "The
way your head keeps getting lighter and lighter and lighter. Baby, you
got no choice. Give in and give it up to me." She's peeling off my
dress and talking real nasty and the words are sticking in the soft
tissue of my brain like darts. Her words are predictions of the future,
and they come true one after the other.*
*I wake up in the morning with a pounding headache. Max is still asleep.
I'm sticky and sore and swollen in all kinds of places that still hum
from sex. I feel just awful, and I know that if I stick with Max I'll
wake up tomorrow feeling the same way. Quietly, I gather up a few
things. On the way out, I kiss Max softly on the lips. She doesn't
stir.*
I blinked. I was still staring at Ms. Thing across the street, but now
she was staring right back! Sizing me up with such stunning intensity
that my knees knocked together. I was pinned where I stood; mesmerized
by a mesmerized girl, like it was a communicable disease, not just a
deep-seated kink of mine. I was still thinking about her piercing green
eyes when I realized she was gone.
"Fuck! I've lost her," Roddy yelled in my head. Across the street, he
threw up his hands.
I came clean. "She saw me. We've been made. Tighten it up around my
position." I was convinced that I'd just screwed up the whole mission,
and I was so tired and disoriented that I felt like crying. If my
biorhythms hadn't been so fucked up, I would have been much more of a
trooper.
Roddy trotted over to me and gave my arm a squeeze. "Steady on. We'll
find her."
"Thank you, baby," I murmured, brushing away a tear.
He studied the street around us. "I think she'll go the most direct
way possible," he prompted, pointing at an alley further up the street.
I nodded, sniffling, and pulled Roddy after me as I broke into a run.
"Hayden, Thomas!" I yelled over the radio. "Are you covering the
doors?"
"Affirmative," Hayden answered.
"Good. Everyone, close in around the goalies. The striker is moving in
to score." Earlier that morning, I had instantly endeared myself to the
boys when I'd made an offhanded football analogy. Seemed to make it
easier for them to take orders from a little Japanese chick.
"Akiko, I see her!" Hayden radioed. Roddy and I rounded the corner
just in time to see the girl, very close to Hayden up at the main
entrance to the GIA building. He smoothly pulled his pistol and drew
a bead. Other ops were arriving to form a wary circle around her.
Wild-eyed, she tried to track all of them. She obviously wasn't
expecting GIA to have advance knowledge of her little mission.
"Carefully, guys!" I cautioned. The dropped her guitar case
(with unassembled sniper rifle inside, no doubt) and went into a
defensive crouch. The effect was more adorable than intimidating, so
she didn't really deter my team. Having been called cute nearly every
day of my life, and having killed people, I knew better. "Don't use
force! Wait 'til I get there!"
No way were my gonna wait for me to save them from this slip of
a girl. It's not that they were reckless, they just didn't know what
they were up against. Hayden stepped toward the girl, gun raised, and
I saw a blur, a kick, his gun flying out of his hand, a second
kick to his face, and poor Hayden coming down hard on the steps. Thomas
was next, and by the time Roddy and I got there, six of our operatives
lay in a heap around her.
"Sweet Jesus!" Roddy swore.
"Let me handle this," I growled.
At this, the would-be assassin snapped around to face me, striking an
unfamiliar stance. She was flushed and breathing heavily. Glaring at
me in a weird, unfocused way. She was a serious cutie, but my job was
to neutralize her.
I cracked my knuckles, dropped into a low stance of my own and winked at
her. Her eyes flicked over to her guitar case in the middle of the
road. As we circled each other, Roddy carefully stepped behind me to
snag it. My watch timer chirped: our witness was starting his testimony,
and we had just collected the assassin's weapon. "It's over, sweetie,"
I said. "C'mon, let us help you out."
She screamed and launched herself at me. I got the feeling she was a
pretty good fighter *without* the hypnotic edge. Her kicks and punches
came slightly faster than I could counter, so I took a few to the ribs
and one in the leg before backing off. But she wouldn't let me get
away from her. She kept close, trying to knock me down with absurdly fast
attacks.
Sometimes I get to this certain zone when I'm sparring. I sort of stop
thinking, and a calm comes over me. Not many people can bring me to that
level, but this fiery little kid pushed me until I began to react to her
punches without thinking. There was simply a moment where her attacks
met my blocks solidly and she couldn't get through anymore. At that
point, we were in our own little world. Our rhythms matched, and if
she hadn't been trying to kick my ass it would've been profoundly
beautiful. I watched her sea foam tourmaline eyes, seeking out the
patterns in her attack. She was so pissed! But she was also fragile,
and I was hesitant to her.
I couldn't lose sight of my job, though. So I braced my palms on her
shoulders and sprang into the air, completing a graceful arc over her
head to land noiselessly behind her. Before she could finish turning
around, I thumped a vital pressure point behind her ear. She hissed,
then collapsed, sliding against me on her way to the street. Shut down.
I bent over to catch my breath, and Roddy gave me a hearty pat on the
back. "Nicely done!"
As I turned to thank him I noticed several figures looking out at us from
the lobby. Some of the GIA London brass, looking real happy. My
reputation was secure, for the moment.
"I'm not sure what impresses me more," Roddy commented, as our
compatriots groaned and started to pick themselves up off the street.
I moved out of the way as the rest of our team surrounded the fallen
assassin to take her into custody.
"What's that?" I asked.
"The fact that you took her down after she went through six twice
your size, or..." he demurred.
"What, what, what?" I demanded playfully, shaking him by the collar.
He cocked an eyebrow. "The fact that you did it in go-go boots and a
mini."
I smiled shyly at him. Sometimes it's annoying, being this hot. This
wasn't one of those times.
***
This was the kind of debriefing I liked: the kind where I hadn't fucked
anything up and I wasn't getting yelled at. The head of the London GIA
office divided his attention between me and the report in his hands,
each framed in a segment of his bifocals. "Ms. Masumi, I'm impressed.
How did you know the suspect was under the influence of mind control?"
I squirmed in my chair a little and winced. A beat passed, and Chief
Fothergill coughed nervously as he figured it out. "Ah. I did read
your file. Yes, of course, you knew from your experience as Min Sect's
captive. Sorry to bring it up."
"It's okay, sir. I just don't like talking about it, is all."
"Of course." The Chief paged through the report as I waited patiently
and admired his gigantic oak desk. "You might be pleased to know that
the girl, Siobhan McKenna, will be released."
"Released?" I squeaked. Then I found my composure. "You're releasing
the assassin?"
"Quite. We discovered that she was an innocent civilian, abducted by
some local nasties and brainwashed with instructions from a group in
Azerbaijan. We're in the process of deprogramming her, and soon she'll
be back home, safe and sound."
"Oh. That's nice." I wished the Chief hadn't brought up Siobhan.
After a few victory pints with Roddy and the guys, I'd stumbled into
my hotel bed and dreamed about her all night. Somehow, it was
depressing to find out she wasn't a deadly international terrorist.
Imagining her as, say, a teacher was distinctly less sexy.
"At any rate, your exemplary performance on yesterday's assignment has
prompted new orders from Central."
"Thank you, sir." Inside, I groaned. Orders from Central meant I
wasn't going back to California anytime soon.
He slipped a glossy binder out of a manila envelope. "There has been
an unusually high number of abductions in the Pacific Rim over the last
few months. Young, pretty girls, all of them. Our intel on the group
responsible is very sketchy. But we think they're powerful and well
connected." He put the binder down and looked at me. "And we think
they're brainwashing these to become a work force of some kind."
I crossed my legs and bit my lip. "What's this got to do with me?"
"Central feels you're uniquely suited for Marlin. It's a classified
division of GIA devoted to mind control related terrorism."
"A whole department devoted to mind control?" I asked. The Chief
nodded. I was starting to feel ill. "Named after a fish?"
Fothergill removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes. "Akiko, I know
this is uncomfortable for you. I know that you specifically asked to
avoid any kind of field activity that might put you in a similar
situation to the Min Sect mission."
"And does Central know that?" I didn't mean to be rude to the Chief,
but I couldn't help it. "I mean, Jesus. I didn't think it would be
too much to ask. That's the only type of assignment I *won't* do.
I'll defuse bombs, I'll even work in India, for cryin' out loud!"
"Akiko..." he sighed. "That mission was three years ago. Because of
your efforts, Min Sect was utterly destroyed. Nepthys fulfilled its
charter and was retired after a decade of fighting Korjdaan and his
cronies. Hundreds of operatives and millions of pounds were freed up
to focus on other problems. Don't you see what kind of good you could
do?"
I leaned over and put my hands on his. "Sounds like my fate's already
sealed, but *please,* Chief, is there anything you can do for me? Do
you have any idea how humiliating that was?" *Or how hot and wet I get
whenever I remember?* I didn't add.
He clasped my hands just like my dad does. "I'm afraid Central's orders
stand. They feel that you're the best new operative for the division,
and for this case. And Akiko, I think you underestimate yourself.
The higher-ups are grooming you for a Director's chair, in case it
isn't obvious to you."
I couldn't think of anything to say, so I tried a brave little smile
and almost pulled it off.
The Chief patted me on the arm. "Now. You need to get yourself packed.
You've got to be in Tokyo by tomorrow."
***
Holy fuck: Tokyo! I was back, for the first time in maybe ten years.
It was exciting to be here, even though I was so whipped from my flight
that the only thing I could manage on my first night was a hot bath in my
hotel room.
The tub was small, but then again so am I, so I didn't have too much
trouble getting comfortable. I had a hot washcloth over my eyes and
a little Suntory scotch from the minibar within arm's reach. The
television gibbered quietly in the other room; the constant flow of my
first language made me so happy.
For the first time in a few days, I didn't have to be anywhere for
about fourteen hours. I planned to sleep for most of it due to the
two massive time zone changes my body had endured in the space of a
week. The rosemary-scented bath was finally winning out over the foul
stink of *air travel* that one acquires on long flights. I adjusted my
washcloth, clipped my hair on top of my head in one messy pile, and let
the waterline lap against my shoulders.
I thought about dinner as I lit another cigarette (the joys of
international travel-smoking in your hotel room!). With every sip of
scotch, a Yakitori place sounded better and better. If I could stay
awake long enough, that is.
Like clockwork, Siobhan's angelic face came to me as I drowsed in the tub.
I'd been thinking of her non-stop during every idle moment ever since
our encounter. It had been so long since I'd seen someone so beautiful.
So... entranced. Yep, she really *did* it for me. And now I finally
had time to reflect on that. I slipped a hand into the water and teased
myself while I dreamed of her.
I chilled like that for a while, smoking with one hand, strumming myself
with the other. Thinking about all kinds of naughty things, just tipsy
enough to ignore the voice in my head that objected to my thoughts about
that hypnotized hottie. Yeah... her pretty green eyes. That full
bow of a mouth. Her hard little bod. I took another drag and noticed
that my warm fingers had slipped inside me. My sweet nectar slowly mixed
with the bathwater.
Her hard little bod... For a civilian, Siobhan was awfully buff. I
thought about her teardrop butt and wondered what she did for a living.
Then I thought about spreading those cheeks and commanding her to accept
something big and.... Mmmmmmmm. I was starting to rev up for real, now.
I put out my cigarette so I could concentrate on getting off.
I fantasized about commanding her to lay face down on my hotel bed as I
slowly stuffed a big pink dildo into her ass. I told her to relax and
take it in, that relaxing would help her to obey me. Then I started
whispering to myself. "Obey... Obey... Obey..."
I had the presence of mind to move the scotch to the floor before I
sank into the water and quivered with my first O. I thought about
tasting the valley between her pert round and had to cover my
mouth as the second one ripped through me. I was usually pretty loud
during sex, but I was sorta trained to at least make a *stab* at being
discrete about it.
Long flights leave me pretty tense, so I wasn't quite satisfied yet.
I cradled my left boob and started to knead. This time in the fantasy,
I commanded Siobhan to ravish me. The hot bathwater, the orgasms and
the scotch had me nice and mellow, so the fantasy unveiled itself
patiently and in great detail.
She started licking at my collarbone, making agreeable little slave
noises. I let her paint her lust in little spirals down my chest as I
slowly guided her by the scruff of the neck. The water lapped at me in
the tub, and I imagined what her tongue might feel like. Just before
she got south of my belly button, she rose up on her haunches and fixed
me with the same stern, appraising glare from yesterday on that street in
London. Somehow free of her trance, she dominated me quicker than a
drill sergeant. My fantasy self mewed at having the tables turned, but
quietly slipped into her thrall. I rose up on my knees, then knelt
before her sex.
"Do me," she whispered.
I stuffed a fist into my mouth as I came, but I couldn't stop my little
daydream just yet. Before I could plunge my face into her, she lifted
my chin and slipped a piece of candy into my mouth. Mmmmm, sour apple.
She let me go, which I took as permission to proceed. Tentatively, I
licked. Her taste mingled with the candy as my eyelids fluttered. I
plunged my tongue inside her, loosening her up, and her hipbones ground
against my face. In a deft move I'm not sure I could pull off for real,
I pushed the candy up inside her with my stiff tongue, leaving it
there so I could try and make her clit just as hard. Soon my chin was
sticky with musky, sour apple yumminess as I buzzed her love button.
Her hot little hands wrapped themselves up in my hair as I worked her,
harder and harder. As her hips began to quake, she shoved me away from
her little garden, crammed my nose into her tummy. Her wail became mine
before I could muzzle it, and I'm sure the whole floor of the hotel was
privy to the pleasing conclusion of my naughty fantasy.
When my fingers stopped shaking, I downed the rest of the scotch.
***
It was 0800 and I felt pretty good. Any second now, a car from Marlin
was supposed to pick me up. I passed the time in the lobby by reading a
Japanese newspaper and fussing over my clothes. Today called for a good
impression, so it was a sharp black spook outfit for me. Sensible shoes,
suit, the works. The black Prada jacket was maybe a little flashy, but a
girl has to maintain her rep.
"Sumimasen. Anata wa Masumi-san desu ka?" someone inquired politely. I
looked up from my paper to answer, but was caught off guard by the cute
Latino guy leaning over me. He smiled in anticipation of my reaction.
"Er... Hai! Watashi wa Masumi Akiko...Yes, that's me!" I stood up and
folded my paper under my arm. He bowed perfectly and I returned the
gesture. My bow was lower than his, of course. It was going to be a
few days before I got reacquainted with all the uncool female cultural
stuff that had pissed off my so much. That didn't mean I had to
like it.
"So, do you prefer English?" he asked.
"Either way is fine," I demurred. He had dreamy brown eyes.
"If you don't mind, let's speak English together. I don't get to as
often as I'd like. My name's Alejandro Cortazar. Please call me Alex."
He shook my hand firmly and flashed a very nice smile.
"Hajimemashite," I purred. "Thanks for coming to pick me up."
Next came the obligatory exchange of business cards. After carefully
pocketing mine, Alex indicated the exit. "Shall we?"
He was driving a nice black Beemer, which stood out a little in traffic.
As we got under way, I couldn't help smiling at the early morning Shibuya
scene outside my window.
"Been awhile since you last saw Tokyo?" he asked.
"Uh huh. I visited my grandparents back in '90." When I was about
fifteen, I realized.
"I've lived here for about as long. I love it."
I glanced at him sidelong. Couldn't figure out his age. "Been with
Marlin the whole time?"
He smiled. "No. Other branches, other units."
"I see."
"They thought you'd be more comfortable with a non-native, so I'll be
your partner for this assignment. We'll have a little help, but it'll
be mostly just us."
This was rockin' good news. "Well, I'm looking forward to working with
you." *Cutie.*
I swear he read my mind, from the look on his face. "Likewise," he
replied, making me blush. Luckily for this girly girl, he got down to
business. "There are formalities to go through at headquarters, but I
thought we'd go straight into the field first. Is that alright?"
"Depends on what you mean by 'into the field'."
"There was another abduction last night that fits our profile. A was
taken from her apartment over in Harajuku. I'd like to check it out before
the scene gets too contaminated. We'll get you up to speed after lunch."
I was relieved that we weren't going to do something more involved, like
storm the evil mind control laboratory before I even had my ID badge.
"Suits me."
He glanced at me during a stoplight, as a couple hundred pedestrians
streamed by in front of us. "Please don't take this the wrong way, but
you're not what I expected."
I grinned at him. "I get that a lot. What were you expecting, exactly?"
"Well, I read your dossier. The unclassified parts, anyway. You've
taken down some pretty tough hombres. I know this sounds awful, but
somehow I thought you'd be... taller."
I just rolled my eyes and laughed.
He covered his face briefly. "I'm sorry. But your reputation preceded
you. In person you look so, uh, delicate."
"I'll go ahead and let you think that, if it makes you feel better about
yourself," I said sweetly. I was floored by his impression of me. I mean,
how could a guy live in Japan for as long as he had and still maintain such
notions? I got the feeling maybe he liked dating Japanese girls, but
having one for a partner was a different story. I got serious. "Alex,
if you're worried about whether or not I can get your back, don't be."
His eyes met mine, and he started to say something, but I guess he felt
like he'd stuck his foot in it enough for one morning, so he just nodded
and went back to driving.
***
"What are we looking for?" I was tripping out on the cramped apartment
Alex wanted to investigate. The living room was also a kitchen! You
couldn't see the walls for all the books, CD's and videotapes. The
missing girl--Hinano Sakurai--was some kind of critic for a magazine,
and it looked like she was a serious collector. I saw tons of spaghetti
westerns, slasher flicks, Nick Cave records and, inexplicably, lots of
Neil Diamond.
Alex scanned the room carefully. "Look for things that don't belong."
I left the living room to him and focused on the tiny bedroom. It was
an explosion of hyper-girly things: stuffed animals, idol posters,
barrettes strewn all over the Sesame Street comforter on the bed. But
there were no signs of a violent struggle. Just the familiar patterns
of a busy career woman. My guess was that the assailant had a key or
was let in by Hinano herself. Her best friend Ami, who lived across the
hall, said in her police statement that they'd had a conversation in the
hallway at around 2300, just before her usual bedtime. Two hours later,
she'd heard a strange noise out in the hall, and discovered Hinano's open
door. There had been no sign of her. Unfortunately, I could think of
lots of ways she might be abducted without a trace.
"I dunno, Alex," I said. "I think we need to get some forensics people
in here."
"We will. Later. Just humor me, please. Try to find something that
doesn't belong in this apartment. We'll go soon."
Since I'd only been officially working with Alex for about fifteen
minutes, I decided not to express my feelings for his New Age detective
methods just yet. *Something that doesn't belong...* I scanned the
shelves in her room again. Hinano's tastes were a little too eclectic
for me to figure out, so I looked for other stuff. The crap on her bed
was just that; the normal stuff that piles up in the course of a sixty-hour
workweek. Underwear, barrettes, socks, the odd yen or train ticket stub.
Nothing weird there. I looked at the clump of stuffed surrounding
her tiny yellow TV. They were mostly little animals, except for...
One of them was a Sailor Scout doll. Sailor Jupiter, to be exact. On
picking it up, I noticed a small gift tag wrapped around the leg. It
read "To Hinano, with love." In English. The doll was heavy, so I
fooled around with it to see if it was motorized or something. It
didn't seem to do anything at all! But there was obviously something
inside the torso.
I didn't notice the drowsiness until after I sat down on the bed with
the doll. At first I just chalked it up to my big breakfast, but when
I found myself sprawled on my back, seeing stars, I knew something was
wrong. "Alex..." It barely came out as a whisper. Oh man, something
was kicking my ass but good!
In the other room, Alex was oblivious, trying to fill me in. "In the
past eight cases, there was always something planted in the residence by
the abductor. Usually a gift to the victim. We don't know what they do,
but they're valuable evidence."
All I knew then was that Sailor Jupiter wanted me to go to sleep. I could
feel some kind of field emanating from the doll, heavy on my chest. It
blunted all my thoughts. "Alex... help..." My hands flopped onto the
bed uselessly.
Alex was saying something else, but his voice receded in a rush of
noise; the static of a fainting spell. Right before I passed out, I
had a bitter thought: this was a very bad omen for me and my new gig.
My fears about Marlin were about to all come true.
To Be Continued.
Note: As I mentioned in my note above, the action--erotic and otherwise--
will be cranked up in the next chapters. Sorry if you felt that this
opener was a little slow, but I think it'll make sense in relation to
the rest of the story. Thanks for reading and as always, feel free to
drop my a line with any comments to <aerosol_kid@hotmail.com>.
By Aerosol Kid
Comments? Email me at <aerosol_kid@hotmail.com>
Visit me at http://www.asstr.org/~AK_Home
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