Author's notes:

Happy New Year

About the language and notation:

The Baylon language is a predecessor to Latin, which is why it looks like Latin at a glance.

Mental communication is denoted by a < and ends with a >, so a mental communication will look like this: "< Who are you? >"

Some warnings:

This is erotic action adventure, meaning that there will be both sex and violence, but I don't mix the two.

This story is posted on the Literotica website and the author does not give permission for it to be reposted or reprinted anywhere else without consent.

P.S. I haven't gotten an editor yet, so any mistakes are mine. Interested editors are welcome :)

That being said, I run everything I make through a text editor (Word) as well as reading it through several times. Now, being a non-native English speaker, that mean that there will be errors I wont catch no matter how many times I read it. Sorry about that and I hope for editor to show up at some point and give me a much needed hand.

P.P.S. While you're here anyway, please rate the chapter and leave a comment :)

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Chapter 28 - Morning glory
Saturday, 24th of June 2000, Spain

---------- Department 55 ----------

“How did it go at the police station after I left? Did you learn anything?” Inquired Maya as she looked at Sheena, who was sitting on the other side of the table. They were enjoying a brunch in the hotel room next to the suite, where the Americans were under the protection of Hector Zavala and several of the local police officers.

The Australian-Indian smiled slightly. “Well, if you doubted, that Karen Chai could kick Curtis’ ass as she said she did, rest assured that she could. After we had talked about martial arts for a while, I asked her to recreate the scene for me. We drafted one of the police officers holding a punching bag to act as Curtis and she hit the bag hard enough to make him fly backwards into the sofa.”

Maya chuckled. “Nice. Anything else?”

“Miss Chai and the Baker Twins have strong natural mind shields, so nothing from them. I was however able to read both Miss Baker and Miss Meyers, and it seems like the American women haven’t been entirely truthful.”

That caused Maya to raise her eyebrows in surprise. “Really? How so?”

“They weren’t alone in the house… At least not all the time.” Said Sheena and smiled, as there was a knocking on the door. “Ah, right on time.” She raised her voice. “Come in!”

The door to the room opened and a young man walked into the room, carrying a laptop computer.

“Hello ladies.” He said cheerfully.

Maya smiled when she recognized the young man. It was Luis Vela from Department 55. Of Spanish descend, Luis was a computer expert without a hint of psychic ability, but he did have a strong natural mind-shield, spoke English, French, and Spanish fluently and could work with almost any law enforcement equipment anywhere in the world.

“Hello, Luis.” Sheena said and looked at Maya. “I noticed that Miss Meyers had a digital camera and had Luis ‘borrow’ it so we could transfer the pictures just in case Curtis was following them. They might have caught him on camera.” She looked at the computer expert again. “Did you find anything?”

“Oh, yeah.” Answered Luis with a smile, while he quickly connected the laptop to the room’s TV and a moment later, they were looking at picture of a large house.

“This is the house they were living in.” Stated Luis.

Sheena nodded. “Nice. Much better than a hotel room.”

“And cheaper.” Added Luis. “It’s outside the town and the rent for the house is a lot less than it would cost to rent rooms for three adults and two kids for three weeks.”

“Hmm… who’s paying for this?” asked Maya. “I mean, they’re all three students and I assume that means a low income.”

“You would be wrong and they’re paying for it themselves.” Said Sheena with a chuckle. “I checked it and despite their age, they have more money than I had expected. Especially Miss Baker.” The chuckle turned into a smile. “According to Zavala’s American contact, Miss Baker worked as an exotic dancer under the name Amazon Queen for a couple of years and was highly successful.”

“Well, who would have thought that there was a marked for young, tall, beautiful, fit and well-shaped blondes as strippers?” asked Maya sarcastically.

“Exactly… As far as we know, Miss Baker stayed clear of both prostitution and drug use, saving her money instead of using them. When she stopped, she had made enough money to buy a nice house in Los Angeles. Not anything fancy, but she paid for it in full, leaving her without any mortgage.” Continued Sheena. “They’re all on full scholarships and have jobs on the side. Miss Baker and Meyers both have a decent salary, doing modelling jobs and when they’re not doing that, Miss Baker works as a part time private chef, while Miss Meyers is a research assistant at the university. Miss Chai works as a part time IT consultant and as a martial arts instructor some evenings.” She shook her head in wonder. “How they juggle all that with school and volleyball I don’t know, but they do.”

Maya nodded and looked at Luis Vela. “Sorry about that… Please continue.”

“Most of the pictures are just holiday pictures and Curtis doesn’t show on any of them, but I found these, proving they weren’t alone all of the time.” He pressed a key, and another picture came up on the screen, showing a blonde man climbing up from the pool and the next four was taken in sequence, showing the man walking to a table and taking a bottle of water as he looked into the camera with a smile.

“That is one good-looking guy.” Commented Maya, making Sheena nod in agreement. The blonde hair was a nice contrast to the golden tanned skin and while the man wasn’t overly handsome, he was good looking, with sparkling blue eyes and an almost perfect smile. The face was a little too rugged to be called perfect, but somehow it made him seem strong, self-assured and very male. The body was muscular and well built, with muscles that looked like they were the result of hard work, instead of hours spent in a gym.

“And he’s also,” said Sheena. “What the Americans failed to mention.”

There were more pictures and especially one where the unknown man was sleeping in a hammock along with Rita Meyers and one of the Baker Twins caught their eyes, as it clearly showed a familiarity with both the women and the kids.

“That’s cute,” said Maya and glanced at Sheena. “But who is he?”

“Well, according to what I picked up from the thought of Miss Baker and Miss Meyers, the guy’s name is Ivan. I didn’t get a last name.” said Sheena and looked from the screen to Luis, but the young man shook his head. “I ran both the first name and picture through the databases, and nothing showed up… but unless he has done something criminal, there’s no reason that he should be in there anyway.”

“I guess that was too much to hope for.” Maya said with a sigh and looked at Sheena. “Do you think he’s connected to the kidnapping attempt?”

“Not unless he’s a special kind of evil.” Answered Sheena and smirked, when the other two looked at her. “He was sleeping with all three of them.”

“Sneaky, sneaky.” Mumbled Luis, causing Maya to laugh softly. “Not if they found out.”

Sheena shook her head. “Let me be more specific: He was having sex will all three adults, in any combination you can think of. One on one, threesomes and foursomes. Apparently, all three Americans are bi-sexual and neither Miss Baker nor Miss Meyers had any jealous feelings I could detect.”

“Okay,” said Maya slowly. “But haven’t they mentioned him?”

“They’re students away from home. My guess is that at least one of them didn’t want her parents to find out.” Answered Sheena with a shrug.

Maya nodded. “Good point… hmm… I guess he slept in their beds as well, which explains why the spare bedroom in the house was untouched.”

“I don’t blame them…. or him for that matter” said Sheena with another smile. “I wouldn’t mind waking up to any of them.”

“One moment.“ said Maya with a frown. “If he’s not connected to the kidnappers, he might actually be our mystery killer.” Her eyes drifted to the screen again. “He looks fit enough.”

“And have the skill.” added Luis and pressed a key on his laptop to make more pictures appear.

The first one showed the blonde man training with Karen Chai, while the next one showed him standing in the garden along with the Baker sisters, looking like he was teaching them martial arts.

“Shall I put out a warrant on him?” Asked Luis.

“No, there’s a long way from having the ability to kill someone, to actually do it.” Said Maya slowly. “Let’s mark this Ivan here as a person of interest for now and see if we can find him and have a little chat with him.”

Sheena nodded. “Not to mention, that if it turns out that he was the one that killed Curtis, he might be a psychic and I don’t want to risk the local police trying to arrest him.“ She turned towards the young man. “Thanks, Luis.”

“You’re welcome.” He said with a smile and walked out again, leaving the laptop on the table.

“More complications.” Stated Maya as soon as the door was closed.

“As always.” Sheena sat down by the table again. “By the way, when we’re done here, I’ll go relieve Zavala, so that he can get some breakfast as well.”

“Ehhh… Isn’t it my turn?”

Sheena grinned. “Yes, my dear, it is your turn, but I figured that you and Zavala would like some time alone.”

Maya coughed in surprise. She had been sure that nobody knew about the evening before. “You know?”

The Indian rolled her eyes. “I’m a psychic… I knew as soon as I saw the two of you this morning. Both of you practically glowed with satisfaction.” She sighed. “I wish it was me!”

That statement caused Maya to blink in surprise. “What?”

The smile on Sheena’s face turned into a grin. “Not with Zavala, silly! He’s all yours… but I could really use some sex soon. It’s been way too long and probing the minds of Baker and Meyers didn’t help. I saw mental images that would make most people drool. It was like a porn movie made with models, except everything was real!“ She grimaced as she discovered that her coffee had cooled off while they had been watching the pictures. “Anyway, there’s something we need to think about in all this.”

Maya sat down by the table as well. “And that is?”

“The whole situation with Curtis and Parker.” Stated Sheena. “With the robberies he has pulled off, Parker must be filthy rich, so why was he working with a creep like Curtis? Also, what’re they doing here in Spain? According to the local police, both houses were rented five years ago, and they have both spent at least three months a year here… I know the weather is nice, but the same can be said for a lot of other places with more luxury and less police.” She poured some fresh coffee into her cup and picked up the rest of her toast. “Looking at their sexual habits, which is what started all this, it makes even less sense. According to the files, Parker’s style in sex partners is quite ordinary as he likes fit young women with long legs and big breasts and while he’s sexually dominating, it’s not really perverted… unlike Curtis, who was a true creep and a paedophile.”

“You’re right… It doesn’t make sense.” admitted Maya slowly. “We’re missing something here.”

Sheena nodded as she swallowed the piece of toast she had been eating. “Then there’s the case of our unknown psychic… Who might or might not be this Ivan guy. While I personally think, he deserves a medal for killing Curtis, we still need to find him and warn him not to do such things again.”

Maya nodded. With no evidence, no witnesses and as her own vision had made it clear that who-ever killed Curtis acted in self-defence, there could be no arrest. Even if this Ivan had items from the house, they still couldn’t charge him with anything major, as they couldn’t prove the items had ever been in the house.

“Oh, by the way,” continued Sheena, “How much do you think he got away with?”

“Well, I would say about a quarter of a million dollars.”

Sheena dropped her half-eaten toast on the plate in surprise. “What?”

“Well…” said Maya with a chuckle. “… We only found the Manet painting in the house and Parkers own house was clean, so if we assume that he has sold the rest of the artworks, that’s more than one hundred million dollars on the black marked. The antiques we found doesn’t even add up to one tenth of that sum… and that’s just from one robbery.” She watched as Sheena carefully picked up the dropped toast and then continued. “I assume Curtis had a lot of cash on hand in case the shit hit the fan, for bribes and other expenses, and a quarter of a million dollars is about the largest sum, that can be carried around in smaller bills.”

“Good point.” Said Sheena. “And the rest is probably in a numbered bank account somewhere.”

“Not to mention, that according to everything we know, Parker was the brains behind it all, so he’ll have even more money than that.” Maya sighed. “Unless we find Parker soon, he’ll be sitting by the pool in some tropical paradise before the end of the week.”

The Australian-Indian nodded “We need to go out in the city and see if we can find him.” She leaned back in the chair. “Given time enough, Parker will slip through the net. It’s simply impossible to contain a psychic with his mind-control ability for longer periods of time. We need to get out there where I have a chance to detect him, if he uses his powers.”

Maya nodded and looked into her coffee, while she thought the situation over. Sheena had an excellent point on several levels. They did need to find Parker before he slipped away again, and they couldn’t do it by sitting in the hotel room or by babysitting the Americans.

“There might be a chance for it.” Said Maya slowly. “According to Zavala, Miss Baker and her daughters want to go into town later. He said yes, provided that they have some bodyguards.” She paused for a moment, but then continued. “It’s risky, but if Parker is still in town and sees them, there might be some kind of reaction.”

Sheena nodded. “They might not be able to identify him, but they’re still connected to the death of his friend or whatever Curtis was. We’ll have to watch them closely.”

Their debate was interrupted when an unhappy looking Hector Zavala entered the room.

“What’s wrong, Hector?” Enquired Maya softly, for a brief moment fearing that the handsome Spaniard had second thoughts about last night’s encounter.

“Oh… Some more deaths might just have been added to our case.” He said as he sat down in a chair. “Did you see or detect anything suspicious on the beach last night?”

Thinking back, Maya remembered the pressure she had felt when entering the water. “Well, now you mention it, there was that strange feeling when we ran into the ocean.”

Zavala frowned and was silent for a moment before he nodded. “Yes, but that didn’t really feel like something dangerous.”

“What are you looking for and why?” Asked Sheena curiously.

“Three elderly men died on or near the beach last night. All a few minutes past midnight and according to the coroner, it looks like they all died from a stroke.” He shrugged. “One isn’t unusual, two is suspicious, but three…?”

“… is enemy action.” finished Maya with a nod of agreement.

“That was my thought as well, but it simply can’t be done.” Said Zavala. “I looked at the map and two of the incidents happened at the same time more than seven kilometres apart.” He suddenly smiled. “Sorry, for spoiling your breakfast with talk of work.”

Maya laughed. “Never mind. Sheena and I have talked work all morning.” She stood up and walked to the other side of the table, before sitting down on Zavala’s lap. “When you came in and looked so unhappy, I thought you had regretted last night.”

“Aaaand that’s my cue to leave.” Declared Sheena with a smile and took her bag from a chair. “I’ll go keep an eye on the Americans now.” She winked and the pair. “Have fun.”

Hector Zavala waited until the door had closed behind Sheen and then looked at beauty on his lap. “Maya… Nothing on this earth will make me regret last night.” He smiled at her. “I take it, that you have no regrets either?”

“None.” Maya started calmly. “I just want you.”

Zavala raised an eyebrow. “As in permanently?”

“That or as often as it can be with me in London and you in Madrid.” Maya put an arm around his neck and dragged him in for a kiss.

---------- Ivan ----------

When I opened my eyes again, Julian was sitting on the bed, eating a sandwich, and drinking a beer, looking at me from time to time, but mainly concentrating on the collection of papers he had in front of him. The knowledge from the Trojan Women - Alice, Rita, and Karen - informed me that it was a newspaper.

“Oh, ‘morning.” Julian mumbled through the food when he saw that my eyes were open.

“Thanks.” I said and rolled my head to loosen up some stiff neck muscles. Sleeping had helped a bit and I wasn’t bone tired anymore, but I still suffered from a severe lack of energy.

Julian placed the newspaper on the bed and handed me a sandwich and a bottle of water to go along with it. “Here, I figured that you might need it.”

Thanking him again, I took them and drank some of the water to patch my dry throat.

“You’re a Qi healer… or Chi... Or however you guys pronounce it.” Julian stated softly as he studied me, while I took a bite of the sandwich. “There’s no way in hell I got away from that beat-down with the small amount of damage I had when I woke up.” He paused. “And most other doctors don’t look like shit when they’re done treating a patient unless we’re talking twelve-hour surgery.”

Since it was useless denying something he clearly knew about, I finished chewing and nodded. “Been healed before?”

“Nope… but I have seen it… There’s an old lady in San Diego that can do something similar. Fixed a broken jaw on one of my friends, but she too looked like hell warmed over afterwards.” He took a bottle of water. “It’s low-key and you have to know somebody that knows somebody, before she’ll even consider healing you.”

I needed to meet that ‘lady’ I decided as Julian continued. “What do you need to get your energy back up again?”

“What did that lady of yours use?”

“Nothing that I saw, but she had four assistants, and all looked about as tired as you do right now.” He shrugged. “I figured that there had to be something that I could do to help you, since you saved my ass.”

I was silent, while I thought it over. Having four assistants to supply one with Vis was a good way to avoid the total fatigue I felt right now, and I wished that I’ve had that earlier, but wishing didn’t make it real and to make things worse, I wasn’t in the mood or shape to go into town and seduce someone.

“I don’t think you can do much right now.” I finally said, “I need to relax, and food is a good start.“ Smiling slightly, I added. “A massage by some hot chick would be nice too.”

“As you wish.” He replied with a grin. To my surprise, he took up his phone, pressed some bottoms and a moment later, he was speaking into it in Spanish.

Understanding only half of it, I tuned him out and went back to eating the sandwich.

Julian finished his conversation and stood up with a smile. “Good. A masseuse will be around in half an hour, so I’ll go talk with some people and find out where the hell those son-of-bitches came from.”

I was flabbergasted. “What? A masseuse is coming here?”

He nodded with a grin and placed the black hat on the head. “Yeah. A girl named Sophia. She’s probably a call girl as well, but if you want more than a massage, you’re gonna pay extra.” He walked to the door, but then stopped. “Do you mind if I leave my stuff here? I really haven’t gotten around to getting a new hotel room.”

“No problem.”

Shaking my head over the wonders of technology, I finished my meal, took a long relaxing shower, and had just finished, when there was a knock on the door.

The young woman outside was good looking, dark haired and dressed in a light summer dress, that was low cut enough for me to get a good view of an impressive bust.

“Good afternoon.” She said in a low melodic voice and in excellent English. “You have called for a masseuse?”

Nodding, I took a step backwards, so she could enter. “Yes. Com’on in. You must be Sophia.”

“Yes I am.” She gestured to someone out of sight and a few moments later a short muscular Spanish looking guy came walking, carrying a leather case.

He nodded to me, walked directly into the room, and started unpacking or rather unfolding the leather case. To my surprise, it turned out to be a tall bed covered with soft leather. He placed some bottles next it and walked out, giving me another nod.

Sophia walked inside and waited until I had closed the door before asking. “Before we start, I need to know if you want a normal massage or special massage.”

“First the normal, then the other.” I answered with a smile.

She smiled back, revealing pearly white teeth behind those full lips. “The price of a normal massage is included in the special massage.”

Reaching out with my mind, I connected with hers to be sure that we were talking about the same thing. We weren’t. The special massage was a normal massage concluded with a blowjob.

“Sounds good. How much? We might as well get the money aspect out of the way now.”

Sophia mentioned a price and I paid her.

An idea struck me. “How much more would I take for you to do the massage in the nude.”

It was clearly not the first time she had that request, because she smiled “Topless is the limit and that’ll cost you extra.”

The ‘topless is the limit’ sounded wrong somehow and it was most likely was a lie, aimed at getting the customers to pay more than they would have otherwise.

I handed her some extra money and ever so slowly she started to take of the summer dress, revealing a curvy woman’s body underneath dressed only in a thong and bra. Making a show out of it, she turned around and bent down to remove her shoes, giving me unrestricted view of her round butt under the thong.

The she turned around and slowly removed her bra. Her breasts were even bigger than I had thought and freed from the bra, they sacked only a little, with the dark nipples pointing slightly upwards.

I admired her body unashamedly. “You are a gorgeous woman.”

“Thank you.” She answered. “Now please lay on the massage couch.”

I took of my clothes and lay down on my stomach.

Sophia started by pouring oil on my body and firmly massaged it into the skin. I had suspected that she was more a prostitute than a masseuse, but I had clearly been wrong: She was skillful and had very strong hand.

However, while a good massage would do wonders for my muscles, it wouldn’t help much on the Vis energy, so I started to project images of us having sex into her mind along with a feeling of lust. Her massage halted, but then she shivered and shook her head as she continued.

Closing my eyes and enjoying the feeling on her skilled hands, I continued to project sexual images into her mind. The great thing about the image projection, is that the mind does it all the time by itself and if done right, the images I projected would seem to come from her own imagination.

That way I could make her extremely aroused, but if anything happened it would be completely by her initiative, since you can’t compel people to do anything that way.

Sophia finished off the backside by giving me a slap on the butt. “Turn around.”

I did as I was told and heard a gasp as she saw my stiff cock. The disadvantage with sending those mind images was that before I could send them, I had to make them up in my own head and the images had aroused me as well.

“Sorry.” I said and looked her in the eyes. “The thought and feel of a beautiful woman giving me a massage, has an effect.”

Sophia smiled and looked down at my cock. “No need to be sorry. I will take care of that later.”

I smiled back and lay my head down on the massage couch.

Even with the mind images and the projected feeling of lust, she managed to stay professional for a long time as she gave my front a throughout massage, but when she poured oil on my dick and balls and started to give them the once over, she was trembling with lust.

So were I and the sensual gliding feeling of the hands made me moan with pleasure.

Her hands left my cock and wandered up my body before she leaned forward so her huge breasts rested against my chest and whispered. “I don’t normally do this, but you turn me on … for 150 euro more, we can have sex.”

Opening my eyes, I looked into her brown ones. “No thanks. You’re a gorgeous and sexy woman and I wouldn’t insult you by paying you for sex.”

She looked stunned, so I continued. “If we were to have sex, I would want to caress your body, driving you insane with lust, hear you moan and scream with real pleasure as you come and not some fake sounds, because I paid you.”

She blinked in surprise and laughed softly. “I swear, that I’ll not fake it and if you can give me an orgasm, I won’t charge you for the sex.”

That took me by surprise. “Are you going to hold back?”

“No… I just never had an orgasm.” She smiled a bit sad. “I like sex a lot, but I never come.”

I thought that she was joking, but her words rang true.

“Okay, that’s a deal,” I said. “Call your bodyguard and tell him that it’ll take a while.”

While she walked over to her bag and took out her phone, I found the money and placed them on the table, before turning around to watch her. Standing in only her panties and talking into the phone with her breasts glistering from the massage oil, she looked both feminine and sexy.

As she was occupied, I used an Ars Mentalis healing trick to scan her body for any diseases, but to the superficial scan, she was healthy.

She closed the phone, placed it in her bag and turned towards me. “So how do you want me?”

“On the massage couch.” I answered with a grin. “It’s your turn.”

Arching her eyebrow in surprise, she walked over the couch and lay on her back.

Smiling I walked over to her. “On the stomach, please. I’ll start with the back.”

Sending me a disbelieving look, she turned around.

I gave her backside a throughout massage, making sure to hit all the pressure points that were connected to the pleasure lines as I did it, making her groan and moan.

It didn’t sound quite right, so I reached out with my mind and eased ever so gently into hers, searching for the mental block that prevented her from really enjoying it.

Finding nothing, I retracted my senses from her brain and concentrated on the Vis in her body. To put it mildly, it was a mess, with tiny slivers of Negative Vis intermingling with and blocking the body’s natural energy. I had only seen that pattern a few times before and that had been in slaves that had been abused on a regular basis by a man that was almost, but not totally, a Negative Vis user.

To express it in a more modern way: She had been abused by a fucked-up asshole of a man, who didn’t give a shit about her.

On the bright side, it had been years ago, because the Negative Vis had started to dissolve and left to its own it would most likely be gone in five years’ time.

In times past, I would have healed it using Vis healing, but as it was right now, releasing that amount of Vis would almost kill me, so I had to make her build up Vis inside of her, until the Vis Mortem had been washed away.

Mimicking her, I lightly slapped her butt. “Turn around.”

Sophia turned with a smile and I started with her feet, working my way up her body, while listening to her small sounds of pleasure, but as before, it was a bit too superficial.

I spend a long time massaging her breasts. They felt just as magnificent as they looked, full and firm. Judging from her moans, they were also sensitive, and she grew louder, as I massaged them, teased the nipple and gently pinched them.

Still using one hand on her breasts, I used the other hand to take off her panties.

Smiling up at me, she parted her legs invitingly. I slid my hand along her inner thigh and started teasing the skin around the pussy. It was shaven and the mental images had done their job along with the massage because she was dripping wet.

Since she was on the couch and I was standing, I could move around her and still touch, so I did just that, bending down to kiss her, but she turned her head away and whispered, “No kissing.”

Since that brought her ear in front of my mouth, I ran the tip of my tongue along the edge of the ear, causing another shallow moan, and whispered. “What if we doubled the stakes? Would you kiss me then?”

To my surprise, she shook her head.

“If I give you an orgasm?”

Sophia hesitated for a few heartbeats, before she nodded with a slight smile.

“Good.” I whispered. “I’ll look forward to kiss those lovely lips later then.”

Taking a towel, I rubbed the oil of her body and had her move down on the massage couch, so her butt was right on her edge of it. Looking around for something to place her feet on, I saw the chair where I had placed my clothes and placed it a short distance away from the end of the couch, so she could place her feet on the arm rests, leaving her whole body easily accessible for me.

Sophia moaned and shivered as I leaned in and began to kiss her neck, then lower, down her neck and to her chest as my hands moved gently over her nipples, pinching and rolling them beneath my fingers. Then I let my hand wander down her body as I licked her nipple as softly as I could manage.

She arched her back and moaned louder as I finally sucked the entire nipple into my mouth, running my tongue along the top of it.

My wandering hand reached down between her legs and started to dance on her pussy lips and clitoris, while I moved my head from one breast to the other, planting gentle kisses on the flesh in between.

A whimper escaped her lips a few seconds later, as I drew the first nipple back in my mouth again, sucking, and then releasing it when I felt it swell underneath my tongue.

Slowly, I worked my way down her body, kissing and licking every inch of her firm stomach, as one of my hands fondled her breasts and the other teased the skin around her shaven pussy.

Eventually I reached the pussy with my mouth and let my tongue play on her clitoris for a few heartbeats before I moved further down along her inner thigh.
I lifted her leg, sat down on the chair between them and lowered the leg until her foot rested on the armrest again.

That placed her beautiful pussy right in front of my face and leaning forward a little bit, I let my tongue run over the sensitive skin, while I inserted two fingers in her.
She gasped again and started moaning as I slid my fingers in and out of her warm, wet pussy, while licking her clitoris.

Sensing that her sounds were a bit less superficial than before, I found the pleasure-spot with my fingers and started to massage it, tongue still playing on the clitoris and the upper part of the lips.

Since the position left me with a free hand, I started to work it under her butt, so I could grope her buttock while licking and fingering her. She willingly lifted her butt a bit from the couch, so I could get my hand under her and then placed it back down on my hand with a satisfied sigh.

Her moans grew louder, while I continued to lick her clitoris, massage her pleasure-spot, groped her butt and in general used every trick knew.

It took some time, but I finally sensed that her pleasure had reached a level, from where it could be built up to an orgasm.

I increased the speed so slowly, that I doubt that her conscious mind was even aware it, but her nerves certainly detected it and her hips started to move almost by themselves in the rhythm of my tongue and fingers.

Her hip moves made my fingers slip and she stiffened as the tip of my index finger touched her backdoor. For a moment, I thought that I had to start all over again, but then she groaned and pressed her butt down against the finger.

Getting the not-so-subtle hint, I held my hand still, stiffened my finger and enjoyed the feeling as she used the movements of her hips to work it inside her anus.

Once it was inside her, she started to fuck herself on the finger, again in the same rhythm as my tongue and the fingers on her pleasure-spot.

Smiling to myself, I felt the build-up inside her as she started to tremble.

Using my tongue and fingers, I coaxed her to increase the speed.

Groaning and shivering all over, she did that, bringing herself right on the edge of an orgasm.

Knowing that the Negative Vis in her body would block any attempts from her own side to come, I caught her clitoris between my lips and sucked while using my tongue on it and at the same time doubled the speed on her pleasure-spot.

Her body stiffened and she gasped in surprise, but instead of coming as I had expected her to, she stayed on the edge of orgasm, moaning, twisting and clearly enjoying every second of it.

Feeling that this would take longer than I had originally thought, I lowered the speed again and stopped chasing the orgasm for her. There was no need to hurry and the feel of her hot wet pussy around my fingers, the taste of her juices and the feel of her body, was intoxicating all by themselves.

As I slowed down, Sophia lifted her head from the table to look at me, but as I winked to her and let my tongue dance over her clitoris at the same time, she lay her head down again with a moan and continued to impale herself on my finger, although in a slower pace than before.

I continued to lick her for a while before I decided to change tactics. Luckily, I was sitting on my clothes, so I removed my fingers from her pussy and continued to lick her clitoris, while rummaged through the pockets of my shorts, until I found the one that held the pack of condoms and took one out. Opening it with only one hand was a whole other problem and after some fumbling, I gave up and gently removed my finger from her rear.

Sophia signed a bit, but the sign turned into a groan as I continued to lick her while I used my hands to put the condom on.

My thumb replaced my tongue on her clitoris and then I stood up and buried my dick in her wet pussy. It was tighter that I had thought it would be, but I still managed to reach bottom in one motion.

Sophia let out a little scream of pleasure as her eyes flew open.
“Oh God, Yes!” She mumbled in Spanish and stared at me wide-eyed, as I slowly started to move back and forth. Her eyes went to my dick and I guess that she must have seen the condom, because she sent me a dazzling smile and rested her head on the massage couch again with a loud groan.

I continued in the same rhythm, letting my hands wander on her body, caressing every inch I could reach while gliding in and out of her.

She started to sweat and shake as she grabbed the edge of the couch and met my thrusts with her hips, while the muscles in her pussy squeezed and caressed my dick lovingly.

I shivered as waves of pleasure ran through me, but kept the pace, making Sophia almost howl when she arrived at the edge of orgasm.

As before she didn’t come but stayed on the edge while I continued to fuck her in a steady rhythm.

Sophia clearly loved the treatment as she trembled, shivered, and moaned.
I kept going for a long time, enjoying every moment of it, but eventually the pleasure reached a point, where I knew I would come if I continued. So, I pulled my dick out of her, sat down on the chair, and started to lick her again as I inserted two fingers into her pussy and massaged her pleasure-spot.

Sophia’s moans turned into whimpers. She put her hands behind her knees and drew them so close to her chest that the legs touched her amble breasts, leaving me free access to everything.

I accepted the invitation and eased a finger from the other hand into her anus, causing her to squeal with delight. Easing another finger into her butt, I slowly picked up the speed on hands and tongue.

Even without concentrating, I could feel the Vis being built up in her body, as she got closer and closer to an orgasm without quite reaching it.

I continued with the licking and fingers, until I had cooled down enough to use my dick again.

Sophia sighed when I stopped licking her and removed my fingers from her anus, but the moans came back, when I placed the thumb on her clitoris again and stood up.

With her legs pulled up, my dick wasn’t on the right course for the pussy, but it was right in front of her lovely butt, and she groaned as the head touched the tiny rose of her anus.

Since she clearly liked that a lot, I shifted my weight forward, pressing my dick against the resisting hole. With one hand working her clitoris and two fingers of the other hand inside her, it wasn’t the most comfortable of positions, but I was instantly rewarded with another loud moan, as the pressure made the little hole yield and swallow the head of my dick. Then I stopped pressing to give her time to get used to it.

“Oh god!” Sophia moaned in Spanish. “More!”

I shifted my weight forward again, as I started to move back and forth and little by little, I slid into her accompanied by her moans and groans of pleasure.

Her legs began to tremble and a low howl escaped her mouth. “Faster!”

Since I didn’t want to hurt her, I ignored that plea and continued in the same pace, pausing from time to time to make sure she had the time to adjust to me.

Finally, I was as deep inside her as I could come, and it felt wonderful, as if my dick were enclosed in a warm, slick glove that massaged every inch of it. I could even feel my fingers in her pussy rubbing against her pleasure-spot and the shaft of my dick at the same time.

Sophia looked at me with eyes that were glowing with lust. ”Fuck me!”

I smiled and nodded to her, before I began to move. Slowly at first, but as it became clear that she enjoyed every move I made, I started to go faster and soon I was pounding her tight butt without reservation.

The triple action of my dick in her butt, thumb on her clitoris and fingers massaging her pleasure-spot finally pushed her over the edge and she screamed with pleasure when she came in a long, drawn-out orgasm, arms trashing against the linen covering the soft leather on the couch.

Concentrating on Vis, I looked at her and smiled. A flood of positive Vis had broken through the dam of negative Vis and washed it away. That alone was almost as good as the sex itself.

Finally, the orgasm faded, and I removed my fingers from her pussy and gently pulled out.

To my surprise, she sat up and without saying anything, she threw her arms around me as she sobbed and then burst into tears, so I simply hugged her back.

As always after good sex, I could feel my body absorb the Vis we had created and at the same time, I felt extremely good as some of the tiredness faded away.

Finally, she let go of me and looked up with a smile on her face. “That… was fantastic.”

I smiled back to her and was about to say something, when she surprised me again, by grabbing my head and giving me a long, sweet, and wet kiss.

“You deserved that.” She said with a smile when our lips parted again.

“Thanks… but we’re not done yet.” I said with a smile to match hers and gently pushed her upper body down on the couch again.

Her smile grew wider, when I put on a new condom, and was then replaced with an expression of pure pleasure as my cock slid into her wet pussy and I started to fuck her again, while leaning down and kissed her wonderful full lips.

She returned the kiss with passion and moaned as I started to move again.

This time there was no barriers that needed to be broken down and she came several times, before she said, “Move back.”

I pulled out of her and took a step back, watching her as she placed her feet on the ground and turned around, spreading her legs, and leaning her upper body on the massage table.

Lining up behind the tempting sight, I ran my hands over her magnificent ass, squeezing it, loving the moans she made in response to my groping.

Without lifting herself from the massage table, she looked over her shoulder and reached between her legs for my dick. I willingly stepped forward, curious about how she wanted it. At first, she rubbed it up against her pussy lips, but then she arched her back and placed the head of my cock against her anus.

“Are you sure?” I asked. The first time around had taken a while and I had imagined that she would be a little sore by now.

Sofia nodded. “Yes… just go a bit slow at first.”

Having just been inside her pussy, my dick was slick with her juices and with a smile I pressed the head into her tight channel, causing her to groan as she said something in Spanish, that I didn’t get. However, as she pressed her ass back against me, it clearly wasn’t a plea to stop.

Little by little, my cock slid into her ass, accompanied by her moans, until my skin rested against her soft cheeks.

She nodded to herself and clenched the muscled around me a few times.

“It’s so good!” she sighed. “Now fuck me ‘til you come.”

Taking hold of her flaring hips, I started to move in and out of her. Slowly at first, but at her urging, I sped up. Her moans became muted screams of pleasure as she buried her head in the leather of the massage table.

“Si, si, si! ” She cried out, lifting her upper body from the table, so she could get a hand down to play with her pussy.

Carefully, I reached over, grabbing her breasts, squeezing her nipples, pinching them ever so slightly to make her groan while I pounded her harder and harder.
She pushed back against me, as I felt her body stiffen up and then she came again, in an orgasm so powerful that her legs gave out and her upper body slammed down on the massage table, pinning my hands between it and her breasts.

Being close to my own orgasm, I had no intention of stopping, so I took a firmer hold of those magnificent tits and slammed into her. For a moment, it felt like she was going to fall, but the stroke woke her up and she matched me stroke for stroke, pushing back each time I slammed into her. It was fantastic and when she came a second time, she squeezed the muscles around my dick, increasing the friction and setting me off.

I grunted with pleasure as I filled the condom with my load and then leaned against her back, caressing her body, while she lay still with her eyes closed.

Then she giggled and opened her eyes to look at me. “I really don’t know what to say right now.”

“That makes two of us.” I admitted and carefully withdrew from her. “Except that it was really good.”

“Oh, yeah.” She said and stood up on shaking legs. “I doubt, I can even walk right now.”

“Wait here.” I said with a smile and walked to the bathroom, removed the condom, wetted a towel in cold water and walked back.

She was still standing in the same position, watching me as I walked over to her and used the wet towel to wash the sweat off her body.

“This is simply to make you cool off a bit.” I explained. “I guess, you would like to take a shower later.”

“That would be nice.” She said with a smile. “And so is this, but unfortunately I have to leave soon, and I need to call my assistant first.”

“I guess that can’t be helped.”

A little while later Sophia came out of the bathroom, fully dressed and looking as fresh as the moment, she had stepped into my room, while I had just washed myself with the wet towel, before taking the shorts back on.

When she saw me, she smiled, “you know, I tried to think of something to say while I was in the shower, but nothing came up. I think that you blew my mind.”

“I take that as a compliment.” I answered with a grin.

“It was.” She said and handed me a small, stiff piece of paper. “Here’s my card. If you need another massage or just want to talk, please don’t hesitate to call me.”

Smiling, I took the card and placed in on the table. “Thanks."

There was a knock on the door, causing us both to look in that direction.

“That got to be my helper.” Said Sophia and looked at me again. “I normally don’t ask this, but I’m not going to leave without knowing your name.”

“Oh… I’m Ivan.” I said with a grin and held out my hand.

She took it with a smile. “Sophia Garza.”

The knock on the door became a bit harder and Sophia let go of my hand. “I better go now.”

“Yeah… before he kicks the door in.”

Chuckling she walked over to the door and opened it.

It was the same muscular guy, who had delivered her, and it didn’t take more than a few minutes for him to take down the massage couch and walk out again, while he mumbled something about “taking a long time” to Sophia on the way out.

She looked surprised and checked her phone, before turning towards me as the shock was replaced with a grin. “I need to go now, Ivan. But thank you for the best three hours of my life.”

“So far.” I said with a smile. “But thank you for today.”

She smiled back and walked out of the door, closing it behind her.

---------- Department 55 ----------

Sheena was still watching the Americans and Maya and Zavala were sitting at the table, debating what to do next, when there was a knock on the door. A moment later, after Maya had said “Come!”, Luis Vela came in.

“Yes, Luis?” Said Maya, but then pointed at the laptop on the table. “If you’re looking for your computer, it’s right where you left it.”

Luis Vela frowned and looked at the laptop for a moment. “Oh… That belong to the department, not me.” He looked at the police officers. “I ran the prints of the three dead men from the beach and your bosses are going to freak about this, Zavala.”

“What do you mean?”

“First of all, Hans Schneider wasn’t Hans Schneider, but former SS officer Karl Weber, a wanted war criminal from World War II.”

“What?” exclaimed Zavala, but Luis continued. “The second set of prints showed that Jack Hardy was really Patrick ‘The Butcher’ Maguire. Wanted as an enforcer for the IRA and so brutal, that the IRA kicked him out… at least according to rumours. The last of the three was Mateo Espin and he turned out to be Francisco Otxoa, a member of the Basque terrorist group ETA and wanted on so many charges, that I can’t even remember them right now.”

Hector Zavala groaned and hid his face in the palm of his hand. “The press is going to a field day with this, and I don’t even know what to tell the bosses in Madrid.”

“That you’re working on a case with Interpol and can’t take a new one?” suggested Maya drily. “I mean, we’ve already warned them about Parker’s presence, so it shouldn’t be a problem.”

Hector Zavala thought for a moment and then nodded. “Good point… and I doubt that there’s anything for Department 55 in this case anyway.”

“Blame the Night of San Juan.” Suggested Luis Vela with a smile.

Maya looked at him. “How so?”

Luis shrugged. “My grandma is from the area and according to the folklore… the old one that is, not the one they tell the tourists… being by the fires on the beach on the Night of San Juan will not chase away evil spirits, it will kill them.”

“Please, don’t ever mention that again.” Said Maya with a slight smile. “First of all, the media would go berserk with that story. Secondly, we would become extremely unpopular by the tourist industry here.”

“Hmm… good point.”

---------- Ivan ----------

About a glass after Sofia had gone, I was sitting in a small café right next to Hotel Aleysa with a large glass of cold juice.

Bringing up the mental patterns of Cyra and Zena, I reached out with my mind to both of them, being extremely careful to keep a tight focus to avoid detection.
“< Hey again, Rascals >”

There was a moment of silence, followed by the feeling of being pleasantly surprised and then Cyra sent, “< Hey! > “

A moment later, Zena did the same.

“< Hey >” She sent. ”< Are you coming back? >”

“< I can’t right now, >” I sent as I drank some more of the juice. “< but I need to teach you how to send thought-images >”

“< What is that? >” Answered Cyra with puzzlement.

“< Do you remember when we started training and Zena sent a picture of the two of you doing Martial Arts in front of an oriental style temple? That’s a thought image >”

“< Oh… yeah, we do that all the time… it’s fun >”

A female voice saying, “Excuse me, Sir,” brought me out of my mental communication and I looked up to see a waitress standing next to me. Young and slim, with long dark hair and large brown eyes, she looked like the majority of local girls I had seen so far. “Yes?”

She nodded in the direction of my glass. “Can I bring you some more juice?”

I looked down and discovered the glass was empty.

Chuckling to myself, I returned my gaze to her. “Yes please.”

She took the glass with a smile and said, “I’ll be right back.”

“Thank you.”

I looked out of the window and picked up the mental conversation again. “< Yeah, and if you just send a thought image instead of starting a mental conversation, you can reach much longer and are much harder to detect >”

“< How much longer? Can we reach you here from home? >” Zena wanted to know.

“< No, not that much longer >” I paused for a moment. “< At least I don’t think so, but you might surprise me >”

I explained how to send only a thought-image and we practiced it for a few minutes, until I was sure they knew what they were doing. Sending thought-images was not as simple as it sounded, at least not the kind that were stripped for any emotions and thoughts, but the Twins took to it like fish to water and their thought-images were remarkable clear.

“< This is cool >” send Cyra with a lot of amusement in her thought. “< Kinda like the SMS version of mind-talking >”

“< Mind-SMS > “ giggled Zena, but her mood suddenly changed. “< Oh! What about the seals you gave us? >”

“< I told you to keep them, until I had told you the rest of the story, and I meant it >” I sent a feeling of reassurance to both the girls. “< I don’t know how long it will take me to get to America, but someday I will be there to finish the story and collect the seals along with the knife. Until then, you need to hold on to them >”

There were happy feelings in return and then Cyra said, “< No problem… We’ll just place it with mom’s chef knives. She has a permit for those, and nobody will notice… hmm…. If you’re coming to LA, you might need our phone number >”

I felt like slapping my forehead, as I kept forgetting modern means of communication. “< Oh yes. I forgot about that >”

Zena giggled in my head and sent both their home number as well as the number to Alice’ cell phone, before she added. “< Just a warning… We need to go to lunch soon >”

“< Oh, where’re you going? >”

“< La Bouganvilla > answered Zena with satisfaction. “< Their paella is fantastic! >”

“< Have a good meal then >” I sent and added, “< Remember to be careful with your focus, girls. Oh, and get Karen to train you in martial arts. If she can’t, train something similar >”

“< Okaaaay, but why? >” asked Cyra.

“< You both have an Inquisitorial Seal of the Ordo Gladius and with that come an obligation to be able to protect yourself or at least try >” I answered and looked up as the waitress came walking towards me with another glass of cold juice.

“< Okay … See you later >” sent Zena and then they were gone.

“Here you are.” Said the waitress and placed the glass on the table. “Anything else?”

“Not right now.” I send her a smile, “Unless you know where La Bouganvilla is located.”

“Oh…You turn left down the street, walk to Calle Granada and then turn right. You really can’t miss it.”

I was surprised that she knew the way and that must have shown in my face, because she laughed again. “I worked there last summer.”

“Ah… Well thank you for the directions.”

“You’re welcome.” She smiled back and then walked away again, heading towards another table and giving me the opportunity to look at her butt as it moved in the tightfitting pants.

With a slight chuckle, I shook my head. It would take some getting used to the health and attractiveness of women in this modern world.

I picked up the glass and drank some of it, while I did a quick memory-search to find out what a SMS was and smiled into the glass, when I found it. Not really the same, but not all that different either.

For a while, I debated with myself if I should go see the women or not, but in the end, I decided not to go. It was simply too risky with the Interpol agents around.

A feeling of being watched crept up on me and as discretely as possible, I looked around to see where the watcher was located.

In the doorway behind the bar, which I assumed led to the kitchen, stood a woman dressed like the other waitress. I guessed she was in her mid-twenties, and instead of having dark hair, hers were golden blonde, but beside that, she looked a lot like my waitress, so I guessed her hair was coloured.

The real difference between the two waitresses was in the eyes. Where the one that served me had been slightly flirty, it had been rather innocent. The waitress by the kitchen door was an entirely other matter as when she looked at me, she had the same look in her eyes as a hungry wolf looking at a sheep.

Under other circumstances, I would have taken a chance with her, but after the long session with Sofia, the only thing her hungry look did, was to remind me that I hadn’t eaten anything since the sandwich Julian had given me for breakfast, so I ordered a steak salad and settled down to eat.

I had just paid and was about to walk back to the hotel when I got a focused mental call from Zena. “< Ivan? >”

“< Yes? >”

“< Could you come to La Bouganvilla? We’re almost done eating and Cyra have a very bad feeling about going out of the restaurant again >”

“< Someone is waiting for us to leave >” added Cyra with a mental voice filled with fright “< I just know it >”

It would be easy to disregard Cyra’s feelings as a result of the near kidnapping, but she really was frightened and more to the point, she might actually be right, which was more important than avoiding the Interpol. “< I’ll be there shortly >”

“< Thank you, thank you, thank you >” chanted Cyra in my head.

“< No problem >” I sent with some amusement as I left the small café. “< Just act naturally >”

I followed the waitress’ directions until I was standing on a plaza, looking at La Bouganvilla.

The timing was excellent as Alice, Karen, Rita, and the Twins emerged from the restaurant as I arrived, followed closely by the two international police officers, doing their best to look like tourists.

I didn’t even get a chance to figure out if I should contact them or not, because Alice discovered me in a heartbeat, poked the others and a moment later, they were all heading my way.

The Twins were the fastest and I just had time to kneel before I was being hugged by them.

“< Hey >” sent Cyra as she hugged and along with the mental message there was a feeling of having missed me.

Smiling, I sent the same message back. I knew that I had only known them for a short time, but I had actually missed them.

“Hey there, Rascals. Nice to see you again!”

“< Likewise >” sent Zena with a smile as they released me.

I stood up to greet Alice, who gave me a hug and whispered. “The ladies behind us are police, so I can’t kiss you… but damn, you have been missed.”

“Likewise.” I whispered and chuckled as Rita and Karen joined the group hug.

---------- Department 55 ----------

“Oh Lord.” said Maya in a low voice. “The pictures did not do him justice.”

“Not even close.” Mumbled Sheena in agreement, as she studied the white-haired newcomer. Tall, good-looking and well trained, he looked much like the pictures, but what the pictures couldn’t and didn’t show, was his presence. Even dressed in relaxed clothes, he emitted self-confidence and there was something about the way he carried himself, that made him a walking wet dream.

She studied the hugging group of people for a moment, but the tingle of someone using Psychic Power suddenly hit her, making her focus on something else. “Parker is here! To the left.”

---------- Ivan ----------

I had just hugged all the women, when I felt a concentrated mental power focus on the Twins. It wasn’t an attack, more like a discrete probe to examine them.

Fortunately, I was touching them in the hug, so I felt the probe as clearly, as if it had been aimed at me. Before I could react, I felt Cyra and Zena’s Mind Shields snap into place in response to the probe, blocking any further attempts at examine them.

“< Ivan! >” Cyra sent, sounding slightly panicking “< Somebody’s attacking us again! >”

Sending reassurance back, I answered “< It’s not an attack. Someone tried to examine you, but your shields defeated it nicely. Good job, girls. I’m very proud of you! Now follow what I do >”

The probe withdrew, and I followed it with my mind, until I reached its source.

The energy pattern was different from both normal people and the Twins, so I committed the pattern to memory and risked a glance in the direction.

It was a man and despite having another hair colour as well as a moustache and glasses, he looked a lot like the mind-image of Leonard Parker I had taken from Curtis’ mind before he died.

Suddenly I detected an extremely subtle scan from the opposite direction of where Parker was.

“< What do we do now? >” asked Zena calmly.

“< Act as if nothing happened >” I sent, while I privately wondered, if I had underestimated the rarity of Mentats in the world, because apparently Malaga was crawling with them.

Using a window as a mirror, I studied the area behind me. The two international police officers were standing there, looking in Parker’s direction. They were also the only ones in that area, so the subtle scan had to come from one of them.

My brains speed up as things started to make sense. Zena had said that Interpol were something like Inquisitors and if there were Mentats committing crimes, chances were that there was a special police force to deal with that, so perhaps she was closer to the truth about Interpol that she imagined. At least one of the two women was both a Mentat and a law enforcement officer, which made her the modern version of an Inquisitor.

It also made a direct mental attack on Parker unwise, since the Interpol agents would detect it. I turned my attention back to Parker, but as I looked, he disappeared into the crowd.

---------- Department 55 ----------

“You have Parker?” mumbled Maya and glanced at Sheena, who nodded “Yeah, but I can’t see him and he’s moving away.”

Maya thought it over. “Okay. You follow him along with Zavala. I’ll take the girls back to the hotel, where we can protect them.”

“What about the Ivan guy?”

“That’ll have to wait. We’ve gambled enough with the American’s safety.”

Sheena nodded and walked away, quickly followed by Zavala and four plain clothed police officers.

---------- Ivan ----------

I was impressed with the quiet, efficient way the red-haired policewoman handled the whole affair: She gently explained to Alice that they all needed to get back to the hotel for security reasons and after giving the groups time for a quick goodbye to me, she herded them away. I did notice that the group was flanked by several Spanish police officers that had appeared while we said goodbye.

Overall, it was skillfully done and satisfied that the girls were safe, I turned around and was walking away, when a thought suddenly struck me: How did Parker know that the women were at the restaurant?

The possibility of him running into them at random was small in a city as big as Malaga and it was highly unlikely that Parker had used mental powers, since the Twins would have felt it. So, either he had been watching the hotel and followed them here or he had somebody else doing it. Considering he knew the police was searching for him, the last option was the most likely.

For a moment, I thought about walking past the hotel and look for the scout but rejected the thought. Without more information, it would be almost impossible to see if a given person was a scout for Parker or a police officer out of uniform.

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

I had barely entered my hotel room when a knocking on the door disturbed me.
It was Julian and as soon as he saw me, he smiled widely. “Damn, that must have been the best massage EVER! You look almost alive now.”

“Geez thanks.” I grinned as I let him inside. “And yes, it was an excellent massage. Thanks for calling her.”

“You’re welcome.” He dropped into a chair with all the grace of a sack of apples and pushed the black hat a little further up. “So, nothing new?”

“Not from me… It’s you who needed a new room and went out to investigate.” I said with a shrug and sat down on the bed. “Did you discover where the thug squad was from?”

He grimaced and nodded slowly. “Yeah… While searching for Mr. Smith, I had a little fight with one of the local criminals. I kicked his butt and apparently, he talked four of his friends into paying me a visit… which was what you interrupted.” He stopped and looked at me. “You gotta be some kinda martial arts expert if you too took them out without weapons. How did you avoid the taser? That’s what got me.”

I had no idea what a taser was, but it sounded like a weapon.

“Was that the guy by the door?”

“Sounds about right.” Said Julian with nod.

“I took him out first. He was the closest one and he was looking at you, so he never saw it coming. Anyway… What’re you gonna do now?”

Sighing, he leaned back in the chair. “Well… the plan is still the same: Either I get Mr. Smith on an American boat or give up and go home.” He smiled a bit. “The last idea is probably the smartest, but I kinda need the money.”

“Hmmm…. Why an American boat?”

He scratched the stubble on his chin. “Well… according to the law, as soon as a ship leaves any nations waters, it becomes part of the nation it comes from.”

“Yeah… what’s the point?” I asked as he paused, but he continued as if I haven’t said anything.

”Meaning that as soon as an American ship have left Spanish water, it’s American soil an’ I can take the bastard in.”

Put that way, getting Mr. Smith on an American ship did make sense, except for the trouble of keeping the guy in chains for the weeks it took to sail across the ocean.

On the other hand, I had seen some of the ships of this age in the harbour and they were gigantic, more like small floating cities than vessels, and like a city, it was possible that at least some of those giant ships had an onboard prison cell where Mr. Smith could be held.

However, since Julian had said earlier that he couldn’t simply drag the guy there, probably because of some American law, the trick would be to get him aboard the ship in the first place.

“Are there any American ships around?”

Grinning Julian held one finger up. “One. Wave Dancer.”

“Wave Dancer?”

“Yeah, it’s a cruise ship owned by… “ He stopped himself,“… someone I know.”

Having no idea what a cruise ship was - except that it was a ship - I just smiled “I guess that it’s not here by chance.”

“Not by a long shot.” Julian grinned, “Wave Dancer have been cruising the Med, but is setting out towards the Caribbean later this week, before the hurricane season sets in for real.”

“So, you lure him onto the ship, get him to stay here until the ship has left Spanish territory, take him in and happily sail on to America.”

“Yeah… that’s the short an’ easy plan.” Julian scratched his stubble again. “Except that getting him on that ship and make him stay there without the use of force, is not gonna be easy. He knows the law as well.”

“And if you use force?”

“Then it would be kidnapping and get me in jail for a long time.”

“Got it.” I said, “Do you have a plan for getting him on the ship?”

“Yes and no.” He said with a sigh. “I mean… I do have a plan, but I’m not sure that it’s gonna work.”

“So, you’re out of luck.” I stated.

“Yeah… Let’s grab something to eat and think about it.” Julian said and stood up from the chair.

I stayed where I was. “Julian, there’re armed people out there that know what you look like and how you dress… I am not going anywhere with you until you have shaved, changed into some other clothes and dropped the hat, so there’s small chance they won’t recognize you on sight.”

He grinned. “Fair… Gimme half an hour… ehh... can I borrow your bathroom?”

“Sure.” I found the correct expression. “Knock yourself out.”

When Julian emerged from the bathroom, I almost couldn’t recognize him.
The shaggy and un-kept look was gone. Now he was clean-shaven and dressed in shirt and long sand-coloured trousers. In short, he looked like a completely different man.

“Nice. I doubt they will recognize you now.” I commentated as I stood up. “Julian, I was thinking about Mr. Smith and there’s one thing I don’t understand in all this. How did you trace him from USA to Spain?”

“Skip tracing, informers and footwork.” He said with a smile.

“Skip…what?”

He grinned. “I’ll explain over lunch.”

I smiled back. “Deal.”

---------- Department 55 ----------

Once they were safely back in the hotel, Maya made sure that the American were safe in their rooms, but before she could do much else, she was surprised by Sheena and Zavala’s return. Both looked displeased as they entered the room.

“We lost him.” Said Zavala with a sigh. “In fact, we only laid eyes on him once before he was gone.”

Sheena nodded. “We tracked him into a crowd of tourists and while we tried to get through them, he got unto the back of a motorcycle and…“ She snapped her fingers “… poof… gone.”

Maya blinked in surprise. “But weren’t the police ready?”

Zavala nodded. “Yes, and the motorcycle was stopped less than a kilometre away, but the backseat passenger turned out to be a twenty-nine-year-old man, that just happened to be dressed in the same way as Parker. They must have traded places, but it’s impossible to say where.”

“I checked the passenger and he really believe that he was just out for a ride with his friend, who believed the same.” Said Sheena with a sigh and took a bottle of water from the minibar. “Let’s face it… this time Parker outsmarted us. He clearly had a plan and it worked.”

---------- Ivan ----------

Finding a restaurant wasn’t a problem and while we enjoyed a tasty meal, Julian explained how people could be traced by following their ‘digital footprint’, while I listened attentively.

Apparently, just about everything people did now was monitored to a certain degree, and that information was stored by computers, enabling other people to see what you had done in the past. Added to that, was as much information about the person you were looking for as you could get. Put together and analysed, it amounted to what Julian called ‘skip tracing’.

This was a completely new world for me, and it was fascinating to hear about the methods and counter measures that were used in this digital form for tracking persons, even if I didn’t understand more than half of what he was saying.

It would also be a major problem for me in the future.

The ‘Peaches of Immortality’ Vis power prevented me from aging and people would eventually notice that I don’t grow old. In the past, I had solved that problem by simply moving to a new place every ten year or so. However, with all the documentation that was a part of life in this age, staying undetected would become more and more difficult.

To make matters worse, easy access to instant and permanent image making, like digital cameras, would severely limit my use of Powers. At least if I wanted to keep my abilities secret and that seemed like a good idea.

In my experience, governments and rulers only had two ways to react: Either you were a useful tool that had to be controlled or you were a danger that needed to be eliminated.

As I listened to Julian, it suddenly struck me, that at least some people had to have knowledge of how to move around in the world undetected. If they didn’t know how to do that, most criminals would be caught by the regular police or by bounty hunters, like Julian.

Other people with that skill set had to be spies, since I doubted that spies were less useful now than they had been in the past and any spy needs to be able to move undetected.

Flipping the coin, people who hunted spies also needed that skill set, to be able to catch spies.

That left me with at least four groups of people to learn that skill set from, which meant that there was hope that I could eliminate the problem, before it even showed up.

Right now, I had one of those people right in front of me and I was determined to learn as much about it as I could. Not that it was easy, since there were many concepts, I didn’t understand yet, but understanding would come it time, as I got to know more of the world. So, I asked questions, listened to the answers, and learned.

We were drinking the last of the beer, when a buzzing sound interrupted us and a moment later, Julian took a cell phone from a pocked, looked at the number and said, “Sorry… gotta answer this.”

I nodded my accept and a moment later, he left the table, saying “Julian” into the phone as he hurriedly walked out of hearing range.

It didn’t take long before he closed the phone and walked back to the table in a fast pace, looking like he was in a hurry. “Ivan, I gotta go talk with someone… can I crash on your sofa later?”

“Sure.”

“Thanks, and sorry for leaving so suddenly, but I have to run.”

“Relax, Julian.” I said with a smile. “It’s not a problem.”

He nodded and walked hurriedly to the door.

I shook my head. Julian was a good guy to know, but he was a little strange from time to time.

On the other hand, it did give me time to think about all that he had told me, so I paid the bill and walked back to the hotel to relax.