Vile Machinations

by P. S. Power

  The words meant little enough to him, so he nodded at the man, just as activity came from the house.

  “Open the hatchway here. Close it as soon as I get down.”

  There was, if he remembered correctly, a switch at the bottom, which would do that. The thought was a good one, since orders or not, the instant he took his hand off of Ephraim’s arm, the man just froze in place. A thing that would last for almost exactly fifteen seconds.

  The round knob on the wall needed to be pressed, which took a few seconds for him to work out. Still, he had the thing shut behind him before the man made any noise of note. It sounded like someone had started speaking. Probably Magda, if she was supposed to be spying on everyone like it seemed.

  Not bothering with a light, even though he found the switch, Connor moved through the heavy door, down the hallway and out into the parking complex, which required travel down some stairs. He was familiar with that gray and chilly level, having used it for running. Meaning he knew how to get back to level three on his own, without asking for help. Given he didn't see anyone at all in the huge complex, even if the lights were on, that was a good thing.

  It still took a few minutes to walk to the stairs he needed and then about ten more to get back to his room, after going up and down more than a few red carpeted hallways. He was still damp from his walk in the rain, and it was tempting to go back to his room directly, since there was food there, even if he didn't really know what to do with it.

  Instead, sighing a bit, he stopped by his Father’s room, first.

  That being the kind of thing that a good Order member would do, at least to his mind. No one had mentioned it, but putting the needs of the group over his own comfort was probably the sort of thing that the new person in the organization was supposed to think about. At least they probably needed to pretend in that direction pretty hard.

  He rapped four times, then stood back, so that whoever answered the door wouldn’t be hit with a sudden compulsion to start calling out uncomfortable truths that, most likely, he didn’t really want to know about anyway. Most people tended to be concerned with the sex they were having or wanted to have, the gross things they did when alone or the crimes they were committing on a regular basis.

  Connor could go for a very long time without hearing about those types of things from his father, or really, anyone else he knew.

  It was the man himself who answered the door, his face brightening a bit when he saw who was there.

  “Connor! I was just thinking about you. You got in all right, I see.” He glanced down at the white shirt and nodded. “You’re wet. Come in, I can get you a towel.”

  That happened quickly, with the man moving deeper into the space, out of range a good bit, moments after the white fluffy bit of cloth was tossed to him. The dampness didn’t go away at all, since he was nearly dry. The thought, thinking of his comfort first thing, was nice.

  The lean man turned, once he was about twenty feet away. Then he called out. It was strained but sort of normal for the life Connor Harriman had to live now.

  “Is everything okay? I had word that Bennet asked you to kill a man. You did it, but… Is that why you’re here?” The man seemed to be a bit concerned that it might be, for some reason. As if he didn't know about the years of conditioning that had taken place. Or, possibly, he knew and didn't think that it had worked as well as it had. They’d talk about it already though, so it might be that last part, but couldn’t be the first.

  “No. That’s fine. I just had some time, waiting for it to be dark enough to sneak into the entrance that I know about, above. I sat in a park and ended up talking to a girl I met. Faith. She’s the step-daughter of Ephraim Kelley and kept going on and on about how he’s been raping her and the police are seeming to help him do it. Walker had mentioned to me that Ephraim suddenly had more money than he should, and so did Faith, so on the way back in, I asked him about it. He’s working for something called the Alliance, selling a list of names. His contact is a man named Winston Millet, who runs a local barber shop, I think. He gets ten thousand a month for that.” Connor stopped for a second, then shrugged. “Also, Magda, his wife, seems to be with something or someone called Ophelia and might have alters. Raping the daughter was her plan, the entire time.”

  The words had him stared at for a few seconds, then there was a brief nod.

  “All right. Let me… We need to both report this and work out an action plan. You mentioned that Walker had pointed things out to you and that’s why you found the daughter to question?”

  Connor shook his head, even if part of that was true.

  “Walker mentioned it. Faith just happened to approach me in the park when the rain started. That could be happenstance or something else. She told me the truth, but… there was something really off with her. I mean, she’s cute and by the end of what she was saying I wanted nothing to do with her for sex. That isn’t normal. I mean, cute girl or boy… I pretty much want to fuck them, if I can. Even if they’re not pleasant or intelligent. I draw the line at them being too young, but that’s about it, normally. So, even if she was secretly trans or something, I should have wanted to nail her. That I didn’t is… kind of weird.”

  It felt odd, saying that to his own Father. The man just seemed to take it in stride, without judgement, at least in the moment.

  “I recall being seventeen, so, yes, that is a bit strange. If her mother is with Ophelia, then she probably is as well. Given that…. Well, the odds of a chance meeting in a park like that are small, don’t you think? It was probably a set up. Let me… Call this in. We’ll want to bring in some others for this.”

  That, it turned out was Walker, who was in charge of things like that and Doctor Short. The reason for her being there wasn’t readily apparent, though she came through the door at the same time the large head guard did.

  She spoke first, as well.

  “Hey! You made it back and everything. Good. Now, what’s happening?” The last portion was addressed to the elder Harriman, who narrowed his eyes and repeated everything that his son had told him. It sounded a good bit more serious when he said it, Connor had to think.

  Walker growled after the good news was finished.

  “Fuck. Well, we had suspicions. Good work, finding the name on Millet like that. We need to feel him out, if we can. Otherwise he’ll probably be pulled when Ephraim vanishes. What do you want done with the wife and kid?” That, interestingly, was addressed to Connor.

  As if he was the one to go to in regards to questions like that.

  Doc was the one to answer.

  “I’d love to get a hold of them, if it’s possible. Ophelia mind control is top notch. I mean, everyone works with alters, but they have a way of layering things that’s so sophisticated that it’s almost undetectable, even under an MRI scan. The girl probably beat your skill a bit there, Connor, using that kind of trick. Or at least her handler did. On purpose, I bet.” There was a wicked grin from the young seeming nerd girl. “I’d love to see if that would hold up if you hit her full blast and actually asked her about things directly. My bet is no.”

  Walker nodded, his face flat and expressionless.

  “We can pick them up tonight. Then, when that’s done…” It was clear that he knew the answer. The shifty look he gave Connor spelled that portion of things out. Even if he was standing about twenty feet away. Everyone else in the room had their back against the far wall. They weren’t really far enough away to lie easily to him. They could probably pull it off though, with a bit of work. Doc could, at least.

  More, they could easily keep their mouths shut on various topics. In the moment it was probably that they all thought he was going to flake out on them. That or he’d want to save the women, not realizing that they were a threat to the whole operation, because his dick was doing the thinking for him.

  A thing that was more than a bit possible, he realized. Honestly, even if he didn't want Faith in particular, the idea of having sex seemed pretty
nice just about then. Not that he was going to call that out to the room.

  Smiling, he nodded.

  “Then we probably need to either kill them or remove them from play in some other way. After Doc has a chance to examine them, of course. Can we hold them here safely? Will people notice if they just vanish?”

  The man in black smirked a bit.

  “We can handle that part of things from this location. Just call in to the kid’s school and the woman’s workplace and let them know that they’re moving. The computer can do that for us. Then, even if no one can reach them, law enforcement won’t take it seriously. Ophelia can’t take us on directly and won’t be bothered too much by losing a few people. The biggest issue will be that we need to replace Kelley. Quickly, so that no one gets suspicious about people coming and going from the garage there. That will take a bit of finesse to make look right.”

  The others nodded, each of them looking at Connor, as if it was a big deal that he was planning to kidnap a few women.

  As if their entire plan wasn’t to kill off most of the world’s population, in the end. That meant, at least to him, that everything else was fair game. The only real trick would be making certain they didn't get caught doing whatever they were, in the meantime. Not that they couldn’t buy themselves out of most trouble, it seemed. The cops were willing enough to leave a cute young girl to be raped, with only a few lies, orders and possibly some payoffs. If that was the case, then the Order could probably get their people out of trouble for almost anything.

  Which meant that, like they needed to do with the the two women in the house above them, the other groups would probably just take to grabbing people and killing them, if the need ever came up. If anyone ever had a problem with him, for instance, there would be no day in court to prove what a great guy he was. No, in that case they probably wouldn’t even talk to him. There would simply be a bullet to the head, from a good way off.

  Which, if you had to go, was probably as close to a good way to do it as possible. No fear or reason to think anything. Just a sudden impact and darkness closing in. A thing that you couldn’t even think about, since your brain didn't work right any longer. He was willing to blame the chemicals in plastic, but he had to admit that the idea sounded pretty tempting just then.

  Walker stood up straight, from where he’d been leaning against the far wall.

  “I’ll get that done. Call it… Six hours? Or we can do this in the morning. You haven’t slept yet, have you, Connor?” The concern actually seemed real, which was a bit surprising.

  The truth was that he hadn’t, but even if it was a day later, it was only just approaching time for him to sleep, instead of him being exhausted already. A thing that he wasn’t supposed to mention to anyone. Probably because there had been some form of time manipulation or travel involved and that wasn’t exactly a commonly known thing, even inside the Order.

  “I can stay up for a while longer. I need a shower and food, though. Doc, do you have a few minutes?” Checking in with her seemed to be a good idea, if they wanted to crack mind control. He didn’t really have a clue how to do that sort of thing, after all.

  The woman, old and young at the same time, stood up herself, from her own position holding up the wall and nodded.

  “We can go back to your room and chat, Connor. Six hours, Walker?”

  There was a nod, from the big man, who was almost to the door already.

  “I’ll call you if anything comes up. We can just go in and do a grab or… Really, Connor, you could just walk in and see about grabbing them for us. That might be easier. We can send a team with him.”

  Stephen looked upset at the words, though nodded anyway.

  “Do it. I want a report as soon as we have control of the game pieces.”

  Those words, it seemed, were enough to allow the rest of them to get out of the room. They headed in different directions, the girl next to him following along a respectful ten feet back as Walker jogged off, heading the other direction.

  Chapter eleven

  Inside his own room, which was identical to the one that his father had in floor plan and layout, Connor stopped, feeling a bit uneasy about what he wanted to ask his new friend. For her part, Doc just acted as if he might, for some odd reason, have called her there for something real. Actual Order business or something interesting that would be worth her time. At least her words reflected that, as she stood just inside the door, not five feet from him.

  Meaning she was being pretty close to totally honest and probably not holding back a lot of what she wanted to say to him.

  “You have something that you didn’t tell the others?” She pushed up her thick rimmed glasses with a single finger, her face so serious it nearly made him wince.

  Connor shook his head though.

  “Not really. I…” He felt ridiculous, in the moment, but still needed to ask her for help. “I’ve been barely eating since we’ve gotten here. I don’t know how to cook or use anything in the kitchen. I can do it over an open fire, sort of. I mean, meat and stuff? I learned how in survival training. Most of the things in the kitchen here are… You know, ingredients.”

  The words got him glared at, which was honestly how the woman felt about the question. She didn't hit him though, even if her face kind of seemed like she wanted to.

  “You could look that up on the computer. There are videos that will show you what to do. You might have at least claimed you wanted me for sex.”

  He nodded at that, feeling more than a little horny at the moment. The hunger was worse, so it had come first, that was all.

  “That one, as well. It’s a bit awkward, isn’t it? I mean…” He was willing enough to go into how he felt, or at least what he figured she needed to hear from him on the topic.

  Doctor Short rolled her eyes and didn't let him.

  “It shouldn’t be. We’re both adults, after all. I’ll get you something to eat and bring up lessons for cooking while you get a shower, then, after you eat, we can fuck. Or I could suck you off? I was thinking about that and it should work, if you remind me every twenty seconds or so about what I’m supposed to be doing. I think that’s the rule for your abilities. You have to remind people to act when the buffer on their short-term memory really fades. Clinically, we generally claim that’s three to seven seconds. From what I’ve noticed in reviewing your work with others, it really seems to be longer than that. It probably means that most people are lazy, when it comes to mental work. You just don’t allow for that.”

  There were hand motions then, telling him to go and get cleaned up, as well as changed. It was tempting to get into real clothing again, but he picked a light shirt and some loose sleeping bottoms instead. After they did whatever they were going to, it would important for him to get at least some rest.

  At least he had to figure that the next day, or even a few hours later, would go better if his head was relatively clear. It might not make a difference, but he didn’t really want to make a simple mistake because he hadn’t bothered to lay down for a few hours when he had the chance.

  When he got out of the shower, shaved and squeaky clean, Doc had food on the table for him. That was in the front room, but near the kitchen. It looked to be some kind of cardboard tray with a variety of side dishes and gravy covered meat in different sections. Seeing him looking at it, the woman smirked a bit.

  “I do know how to cook for real, of course. I just wanted to see how you’d react to being fed something like this. You aren’t really used to it. Regular people food… At that hell hole masquerading as a school they fed you top line stuff all the time. Most people hearing that would think it meant you were babied there.”

  That was, more or less, the truth. No one was allowed to get fat there, so meals would be withheld if you tended to plump up too much and no outside food was allowed in, strictly speaking. Some of the kids had managed to smuggle things that way. It wasn’t actually punished when they did it either, he realized, in hindsight. Meaning tha
t they’d been being trained to do that kind of thing, most likely. To sneak around and hide things from others, under the guise of getting away with something that no one had ever been punished for. In a place where they managed to know if you tried to touch yourself too much in the shower…

  It suddenly didn’t seem all that likely that anyone had really gotten away with hiding their candy and booze from the instructors and staff there. Not that Connor had ever done anything like that for the most part. The other kids had gotten goodies when they went home on breaks and vacations. Connor had always been sent to different survival camps and training at those times. Coming back with a half-roasted snake had never seemed like that brilliant of a plan for him, for some reason.

  The food was fine, really. A bit salty and rubbery, but he was able to smile and thank his friend for the food, without lying about it.

  “This is good. I mean, not really great, but I’ve eaten worse. Recently, in fact.” That was true, since his last meal had been a can of salty, half burnt, soup. A thick paste that had reminded him of nothing that he’d ever eaten, since he didn’t read the instructions about adding water until after he’d consumed it.

  That had not been a thrilling meal for him.

  This one even had a bit of chopped apple with a sweet topping on it that wasn’t half bad.

  “Thank you for making it for me.”

  The words got a nod, then a wave.

  “Just toss that and we can do some things. I should probably go and lube up, just in case the oral thing doesn’t work for you. Are you doing my ass, do you think?” She spoke the words as if that was probably just going to happen.

  She couldn’t say no, and if he wanted her that way, then it would be what took place. Which made her question sensible. After all, even at Etain they’d learned in class that you needed to use lubricant with anal sex, to prevent injury and increase pleasure.