There was no denying how much she enjoyed this, no matter what the gender, no matter what the reason behind it, she could lose herself within such pleasures. There was no chance of becoming addicted to such dalliances, in devoting herself to carnality, for when it came to an end, there was only the coldness of her own heart - no attachment, no affection, nothing.
During the act of sex, she felt her soul briefly swell with unknown quantities, for a moment she found real peace, and knew a shallow and all too fleeting satisfaction that left her feeling cheated and all the more hollow.
She refused the pulls that sought to drag her down, and Mina finally relented and settled, smothering the woman’s face, sealing her in darkness, her face lost beneath the hot sex of her lover. The moment her weight was applied to the supplicant features, the hands on her rear and hips tightened in ecstatic pulses, kneading the firm flesh, overwhelmed by the experience of being controlled thus by someone so glorious of visage.
It was a compulsory act of dominance, to remind Mina that she was still very much in control, that her passion for such deeds was not overwhelming her, that Melissa had no power over her. Mina needed to ensure she did not let her lusts overtake her, to make sure she stayed in full command of herself and not be tempted or led astray by such temptations, for to do so created weakness, and to be weak was to be imperfect.
As a concession to her partner, and as a dedication to making this experience as intense as she could, Mina draped herself down and used fingers and tongue to attend the shuddering sex of Melissa. The woman’s legs cavorted at the severity of the pleasure, every circling swirl of a fingertip, every stroke of a probing tongue or lingering flick of a tip brought spasms of ecstasy.
The first orgasms gouged through Melissa, turning her into a rodeo ride as she jolted and jumped beneath the woman astride her.
Mina smiled, continuing with greater diligence, pushing her further, making Melissa’s sex resonate with screams of rapture that were howled through her fleshy caverns by Mina, forming an exquisite ordeal.
She never really achieved such peaks any more; her long service to the company and her devotion to excellence had replaced sex. Sex was just another tool in her arsenal now, something to use, to exploit, and for that reason, she couldn’t find the sort of delight those she attended found in it. It was a pleasure that filled her a little, but never enough, leaving her deflated, gaining tenuous solace in the gratitude of her partners.
For a long period, Mina forced the beleaguered female through such intensity, exhausting her completely before finally stepping free of the attending face.
Melissa’s eyes were half shut, pained by the soft light of the prestigious flat after dwelling for so long in the enforced gloom of Mina’s loins. She was breathing in ragged fits, numbed and weary to the point of collapse. Half formed words of thanks slipped from her lips, barely coherent, fractions of thoughts given form as senses remained in overload.
Mina reached over and took a glass of water from the bedside table. After taking a deep and overtly obvious draught of reassurance, she covertly opened her ring and dropped a few particles of powder into it. A subdued swirl merged the fluid with the illicit substance and she handed it to Melissa.
The woman downed it quickly, parched by their exchange. Granted a moments vigour by the cool liquid, she settled back into Mina’s arms to rest, her body slack, beset by the odd jerk of lingering pleasure as though echoes of the experience were loitering in hidden pockets to randomly burst forth in quieter moments.
Mina cradled the woman as she slipped into slumber, the depth of which would be artificially increased and lengthened by the soporific compound she had given her.
Stroking the damp hair, the curls springing under the caress, Mina waited while the full effects came about, the hidden machinations of digestion mindlessly processing the illicit cargo. When she heard the long respiration of drugged stupor, she set the languid form aside and left the room, dragging Melissa’s robe from the back of a chair as she went.
Heading to the private study, she tapped in the number on the combination lock. The keypad flicked back the heavy bolt and she pushed the door open, the warm mustiness of the chamber extending out and touching her nose as she turned the lights on. The mere dusting of the pad had gained the three digits Melissa used, and from then on it was just a process of elimination to acquire the combination. Since then, it had been an easy road into the secure Korin network. The home connection allowed easier access for Mina’s hacking exploits, and Melissa always kept the same password - nifoc.
Switching on the system, Mina waited while it booted up, the emblem of Korin Enterprises dominating the background like the religious symbol of some zealot empire. The password let her in without a second glance, and from there she started her rapid and intense search, seeking clues, trying to trace monetary flows.
The company had gone to extraordinary efforts to hide the use of Korin’s personal wealth to fund and back something. The funds floated through various dummy organisations and then there came the contorting and dividing of the amounts, the obfuscation towards its origin and next destination, all of it making it near impossible to keep track of. Several times she was thrown into blind alleys and dead ends, faced with shut downs and security traces, booby traps - a menagerie of cyber beasts that took all her skill to evade or defeat.
The sun was lapping at the horizon, bathing the distance in a hesitant glow when she finally reached the end of the line.
Scylla Holdings had been the recipient of every unit of currency dispatched from Korin. Only the most tenuous of links existed to make the firm part of Korin Enterprises, a link impossible to find outside of the company, and even whilst within its own records, the connections could easily be overlooked by even the most astute and high-ranking personnel.
There were no details, no records. Scylla operated independently, doubtless keeping its own data on the premises, a stand-alone system that she would have to actually access personally to delve into. What could possibly justify this insane level of concealment and subterfuge?
Shutting down, she wiped the keys free of her prints, checked for any hairs or other traces she might have inadvertently left and moved from the room, wiping the keypad on the door as she went. Returning to Melissa so she could be there when she awoke, Mina went about maintaining the illusion that she had been there all night.
Sliding onto the bed, she pulled the sheets over them both and settled into the woman’s loose arms, nestling together as Melissa offered small murmurs of contentment. Closing her eyes Mina plotted her next step, making her mind work on other topics than how unfulfilling and dreary her life was.
Chapter 3
The sea breeze tried to burrow through her clothes, its bitter teeth being kept out by the thick layers Mina had heaped upon herself. With tenacious persistence the wind shoved at her, denied access and now belligerent to one so unaffected by its chill talons.
Fighting the gusts of wind, Mina observed the scene with her usual analytical mindset. The building loomed before her, ominous and majestic, its black panelled surfaces of glass darker than the cloud coated night sky. About seven stories high, it sprawled in a large L shape, cradling a vast parking area before its canopied main doors. There were no markings or logos, the office block was completely resilient to identification.
All around the building rolled the bland hills of the coast side, the freeway streaking along bearing hesitant traffic nearer to the sea. Situated well back, half-concealed by a small zone of hills, Scylla Holdings clearly wanted to avoid being noticed by even the most astute passer-by.
Fencing surrounded its expansive perimeter, the wire conducting not only a powerful dissuasive current but a subtler signal to reveal if the mesh were being cut or interfered with. Such defences presented no significant problems; she had faced them before and never once been thwarted.
Kee
ping low she jogged towards the barrier, removing her backpack and pulling out a misshapen box. Clips poured from each end, and in unison she started to clip them in pairs, letting the voltage pour through the box and be regulated to hide her intrusion. With a small vent rendered senseless at the ground, she covered the box with wild grasses and paused, waiting to see if there were a more cunning defence that had detected her, one that she may have missed. When nothing save the howl of the ocean gale presented her with companionship, she removed wire cutters from a pouch and snipped her way in.
Checking the scene once more Mina slipped free of her heavy clothes, shedding the weighty layers, emerging from the cocoon like a caterpillar, revealing herself as a slender black wraith, all bulk lost via the transformation.
Clad from head to foot in a clinging layer of opaque, non-reflective neoprene, she removed the night vision goggles from her belt and once they were in place, activated them. With a dull whine, the scene of darkness gathered a green hue, the clarity rising as the goggles amplified the vague light.
Checking her utility belt to ensure all was secure and present, she applied a sheath to her shin. Her boots accepted the holster as she slid a combat blade into it and used a snap fastening to grab the weapon. After hiding her clothes with more grass that she wrenched from the sandy soil, she continued to ready for her midnight incursion.
Straightening her hood and gripped gloves, she slipped into the straps of her small backpack, tightened them to a more snug fit, put the zip lock bag with the dead seagull into it and slithered through the small chink in the building’s fortifications.
Starting to thread a covert route towards the building, Mina ducked and tried to keep to pits of greater shadows. Using the hills that obscured the building to further cloak her approach, she wove around to the side and nestled at the foot of the obsidian cliff face.
Looking around, she continued to check for a sign that she’d been observed, and finding no such verification, started to remove the suction cups from her bag. Sliding the climbing implements into place on her hands and knees, she applied them to the dark wall and turned them on. The soft hiss of pressure indicated that they were in working order and a testing yank confirmed their strength.
With subdued growls of effort, Mina started her ascent, moving carefully, ensuring she was doing all she could to evade detection.
The wind spitefully pulled at her during her ascent, the building creating vortexes that whirled chaotically and wrenched at her making the climb an even more strenuous feat. A sweat gathered across her skin, her brow damp with moisture as she battled against the elements.
Upon reaching the roof she held herself in place, released a hand and pulled free a small mirror. Her muscles were burning from exertion, but her need for caution kept such debilitating effects firmly out of reach. Extending the mirror, Mina peered surreptitiously over the lip. A panoramic view revealed a single guard stamping his feet irritably and cursing his ill fortune at being posted in such a cold and dismal place.
Replacing the implement, she set one leg free and scratched softly at the glass until the annoying squeaks gained his attention. She repeated the noise, and listened carefully as he walked slowly over to investigate. The moment he looked over the ledge she flung herself around, kicking up, hauling at her anchors to deliver a jarring heel into his jaw before he even caught sight of her. With a whiplash snap his head span aside and he arced back, collapsing onto the floor with a dull thump.
Without delay Mina crawled up onto the roof and scampered to the prone body. The guard was barely conscious, groaning and writhing sedately, his protests goaded by the throbbing pain in his jaw. It was a temptation to slay him, but that was a reckless deed, and besides, it took far more skill to disable rather than butcher.
Locking her arms about his head, she applied pressure and quelled his breathing, delivering him into an oxygen-starved faint that would last for hours. Liberating him of his key card, she examined her surroundings to locate the door and also for a possible place to stash the body.
The guard had entered through an access door located in the centre of this wing, and all about her were twirling fans and thick chutes of metal, feeding and reprocessing the air into the building, regulating its environment.
With the only obstacle incapacitated, she dragged his slack form into the mire of air conditioning ducts. Yanking free a grid she slotted him in before closing it, hiding her attack from any who investigated his absence.
Skipping to the door, she ran the pilfered card through the slot. With a click it opened, accepting the bogus intruder it assumed to be the guard. Moving in with care she found herself faced with the bland, preened corridors of the offices.
As a shiver upon the serene quiet Mina moved swiftly through the labyrinth of cubicles and rooms, searching for an archive. The terminals at the main data storage units would be her most profitable choice of location to access from, giving her a direct vein into the heart of this eerie place.
Several times she had to duck into cover, hide herself in the darkness while a guard walked past, the uniformed sentinels relentlessly prowling for trespassers. The security of this firm was well above average. They were certainly hiding something, and pondering what it could be had her more intrigued than ever.
A wall of glass revealed banks of computer hardware, like pews in some church of high technology. A secure door demanded a card and a combination to permit entrance, a feature she could easily by-pass. Cracking open the faceplate, she removed leads from her belt pouches and clipped them in place. Letting the Siegebreakers run, the small devices she carried pummelled the system with data, pouring a condensed stream into it that overwhelmed the circuits and finally located the correct code.
Tricked into thinking a card had been properly used, the locks retracted and with a soft hiss the door popped ajar, letting Mina remove her cables and restore the plate before moving in. Creeping through, she located a discrete workstation and settled in.
The light of the screen gave her sufficient illumination to work by, the terminal drooling its dirty glow across her hunched frame. It took little effort to break through the encrypted defences, and she was exploring within the viscera of the company with minimal hindrance.
The scope of what she found before her was strange. Millions of dollars were being poured through this façade of a company. Its director, Miss Scylla, answered only to Korin himself and no other information existed on her, making Mina assume she was a fictitious creation, a phantom to give this company a figurehead and scapegoat should it be necessary.
There were vast payments made to what was only referred to as Project Charybdis. Also, the personnel reports and recruitment of employees for the firm were more than a little strange. It seemed Scylla had a body of permanent employees that worked at this beachfront facility, processing and researching for a very decent wage. But there were also a massive number of temporary transient employees, ones who were recruited and then almost immediately transferred to the Charybdis Project whereupon they vanished from both payroll and record. The Project had to be handling their details after the transfer, further hampering any chance of finding the end result to this convoluted bureaucratic chain. Such paranoia offered possibilities more disturbing than mere corporate rivalry. Such devoted deception suggested highly illegal pursuits - terrorism, drug smuggling, arms - something that could bring down the company if it were hauled into the public light. People didn’t care what horrors the suppliers of their goods and services perpetrated just so long as they didn’t have to know about it.
When Mina opened the files of the Charybdis recruits, she found them to be exclusively female, aged between eighteen and thirty. The files made little or no sense. They ranged from the unskilled to the professional, a plethora of unrelated backgrounds and training from all walks of life with not one thing in common. Yet each, no matter if they were unemployed college graduate
s or fully qualified doctors, or practising big shot lawyers, each of them was being paid an obscene amount of money for their initial recruitment into Scylla. Were such wages still being paid to them in Charybdis? If so, it might explain the inordinate amount of money being funnelled into the project. But what services were they providing to warrant such grand payments?
Mina stared at the screen for a while, running through the files again, trying to find something she may have missed. Scylla existed solely to feed Charybdis, just like in the myths. Under-qualified and overpaid women were the sustenance, but why? What were they doing and where were they? They were listed only with the date of transfer, no destination, no details, and no word of them ever came back.
Determined to find and undermine this project, Mina opened a blank folder and started to fill it with her details, conjuring a plausible secretarial background for herself. Keeping to the mythological temperament, she entered herself as Mina Kraken, gave the address of one of her more modest safe house abodes, listed herself as unemployed, and loaded her data onto the list of prime candidates for recruitment.
Leaning back for a moment, she sighed and pondered what she was missing, what she had yet to try, and if there was something else she could do to find out what was going on. Resigned to the fact that she had done all she could, she shut down the terminal and began to make her escape, keeping her wits about her as she fled the building like a wayward ghost - unseen and unheard.
On the roof, she removed the body, laid him by the ledge and took the zip lock bag from her backpack. Removing the dead seagull from the plastic, she dropped it nearby, offering the guard the explanation that the creature had flown straight into him, knocking him out and breaking its own neck in the process. Such an embarrassing explanation would have him keep the event to himself and hide Mina’s trespass.
Captured by Charybdis Page 3