Author's notes:

This is the continuation of A Long Time from Home and if you haven't read that, I advise you to do so. The series is self-edited, so any mistakes are mine, though I now have a proofreader, that can catch missing words ect. Thanks to Jessejames932006 for doing that.

Some of the chapters will take place in the ancient past and while I have done a lot of research for that, there might be small errors here and there. If you think you found such an error in the story, please double check to be sure that you're correct and then PM me about it, so I can fix it. :)

Due to its length, I placed ALTFH under the 'Novels and Novellas' section, but as you can see, ALTFH II is placed in the 'Sci-fi and Fantasy' section, which fits it better due to the elements of magic that's in it. At least in my opinion :)

My RL is quite busy at the moment, so I'm afraid that the chapters will come a little slower than I had originally hoped. There's nothing I can really do about that, except hope that you have patience with me.

Anyway, have fun and while you're at it, please rate the chapter and leave a comment :)

I have stated that I would upload chapters of 'Into the Chaos' (my Star Wars: The Old Republic story) every other time and that is still the case.

About the notation:

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.

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Chapter 4 -- Executing the plan

Early August, Costa Rica

Jaguars

Since I had Parker's memory, his other estate on the pacific side held no surprises and I spent most of the time there transferring the loyalty of the staff to me. Fortunately, they all had the same Mind Control as the security force at Villa Bonita, which made the transfer easier.

To my surprise, the security force at Villa Blanca mostly came from the same countries as the rest, consisting of two Pakistani, two Danes, two Romanian, a Philippina and two from Ukraine. Then again, few countries allowed females in their armed forces, and since Parker had insisted on using former female soldiers as bodyguards, that limited the number of places those women could come from. Parker's personal taste in women could also be clearly detected, as they were markedly better looking than most of the women from Curtis's estate.

However, limited or not, I still needed to find a way to get those women home again or, if they wished otherwise, an alternative that would enable them to live a normal life. Fortunately, Parker's mind-control and loyalty codex on the bodyguards was a lot less heavy-handed than the brute-force approach Curtis had used, and there was a good chance, that most of them could live a relatively normal life, once I had lifted some of the restrictions Parker had placed on them.

Removing the mind-control entirely was a much bigger problem and something I couldn't do without causing serious mental damage to the victim. At least not at the moment, as I needed time to study both the victims and Parker's memory about the subject, so it would simply have to wait. With that in mind, I had lessened the restrictions Parker had placed on his female guards, and had the most experienced soldiers transferred to Villa Bonita, so they could help liberate the rest of the kids.

Like with the security force at Villa Bonita, I had also asked if they wanted to return home. The answer I got was predictable. Like Ayanna, none of the Pakistani women dared to return home as non-virgins. The Romanian, Philipino and Ukranian women all wanted to go home to their families. The rest had chosen on a personal preference, resulting in one of the Danes, Grete Sørensen, and one of the Russians, Zlata, choosing to go home, along with Vidula, one of the Sri Lankan women.

All in all, fourteen out of the twenty-six-person large security force wanted to go home, leaving me with twelve guards, once I had figured out a way to do it, that wouldn't bring me any trouble. However, as that wasn't going to happen before the kids had been liberated, we did have a substantial force to use for it.

While Petra and the security force scouted the place where the kids were held, I had concentrated on the four girls from Curtis' house. As with any other healing, the progress would be a long one, and while Ars Mentalis could speed up the process by quite a lot, the girls still needed something physical to do so they wouldn't be bored out of their minds.

In Curtis' dungeon, the entertainment had mostly consisted of books and TV, but I wanted them to be physically tired so they would sleep better and persuaded them to help get the hotel ready.

First pictures were taken of every room in the main building, enabling Esther, Ayanna and Riya to order new carpets, curtains and other items in a similar style to the old ones.

Then the four girls and I removed everything made of cloth from the house and while they made sure that it was burned on a large fire, I cleaned everything at least twice, starting with peeling some lemons and cutting the skin in smaller pieces, putting the slices in several jars along with a cupful of the natron salt and placed one jar in each room as I went through them.

That way the baking soda could absorb the rotten smell and replace it with a citrus one. It did help a lot on the odour, and I followed by using Ars Mentalis to clean the whole house, which sounds easy, but as I had to sterilize each room individually, it was quite taxing and gave me a splitting headache, so I ended up spreading that work out over several days.

On the bright side, it removed most of the smell and after yet another day, I split the four girls into two pairs, so that Christina Becker and Jade Wilde were one team, while the other pair consisted of Anna Weber and Ida Vogt. Armed with the remedies that Frank Astaphan delivered along with a cleaning mix of natron salt, vinegar, salt, and Tea Tree oil, we scrubbed all the rooms physically, trying to remove the last faint odour of rotten meat from the building, with the girls doing the smaller rooms on the second floor, while I scrubbed the larger rooms downstairs.

Scrubbing was hard work, but there was a Hi-fi system in the house and loudspeakers in every room, so we had music as we worked, and people seemed to like it. Personally, I enjoyed it tremendously. It was a relief to have something physical to do besides training Martial Arts after all the thinking and planning I had been doing, and after we had given the house a second scrubbing, the stench was gone, replaced with the fresh smell of lemon.

Another thing I enjoyed tremendously was the ride from Villa Bonita to the hotel estate. Since the two estates were right next to each other, I could ride a horse from one estate to another. It took about an hour, but it was a nice relaxing ride and much better than sitting in a car.

After some riding lessons from Petra and Delina, the four girls enjoyed the ride as well, and caring for the horses also had a positive effect on them, helping their mood almost as much as the mind-healing sessions we had every other evening.

All the work and physical activity had the effect that I had hoped for, as the four girls were tired to the bone in the evenings, making them fall asleep almost as soon as they went to bed, though I did use an Ars Mentalis trick to prevent them from having nightmares.

I also made sure that everything was on a schedule, never leaving them in doubt of what was expected of them and when. Most imprisoned people were kept to a rigid timetable, as it followed the change of guards, and in my experience the concept of having freedom had to be slowly reintroduced to them to avoid confusion and insecurities.

The effect of lots of uninterrupted sleep, sun, plenty of physical activities and healthy food was clear to see, as the girls' mood steadily improved, allowing their personalities to shine through the hurt and emotional pain, helped by Ars Mentalis, that was speeding the healing process up a lot.

I was giving the floor in the hall a last cleaning when the sound of somebody knocking on wood cut through the music and I turned towards the door, where a nicely dressed middle-aged woman with dark hair and light brown skin was standing, looking at me with her brown eyes.

I smiled and walked to the Hi-fi system to lower the volume of the music. "Hello?"

There was an uncertainty in her voice as she smiled and said, "Sorry for interrupting your work, but do you happen to know where I can find Mr. Emilian?"

I almost laughed, but then realized that being young and dressed only in shorts while doing hard labour would make most people assume that I was some kind of hired help. "Yes... That's me. Can I help you?"

For a moment, she was speechless, but then she nodded. "I'm Nova Salas from the National Child Protection Agency and I'm here to inspect the facilities."

Gabriella Delgado had warned me that an official representative would come along to inspect the new boarding school, so I wasn't really surprised about that. "Ah... Welcome, Miss Salas. Give me a moment to put my shirt on, then I'll take you on the tour."

"Thank you." She paused and then added. "I do hope you haven't planned on keeping your pet here when there are kids around... I might add that it's illegal to have panthers or jaguars as pets here in Costa Rica, but I assume you have a permit for that."

Taking my shirt from the back of a chair, I turned to look at her. "What pet?"

"The panther sleeping on the sofa outside the entrance."

"Miss Solas, I don't have pets, much less a panther." I told her calmly and walked past her to look at the sofa on the terrace. Just as she had said, a big black cat was draped over the sofa, looking like it was asleep.

To my surprise, it was the Panther from Villa Bonita. The two estates might be next to each other, but there was still a substantial distance between them, and it must have followed us all the way.

I chuckled. "Oh, that one. She just showed up. I guess she likes the company."

Miss Solas looked at me like I was slightly insane and took a few steps away from the big cat. "Are you serious? Is it really wild?"

"Well, that depends on what you mean by 'wild'. If you mean 'untamed', you're right, but if you mean dangerous, you're wrong." I thought for a moment. "Unless you point a rifle at her, that is. At some point, she must have learned that rifles are dangerous because she gets really grumpy when someone has a rifle and if it's pointed at her, she will either try to flee or attack."

As I was talking the panther opened her eyes and stretched lazily, looking at us.

"Sorry to disturb your sleep, old girl." I told the panther and scratched her head between her ears.

She tilted her head in response, clearly liking it. "But you're making our guest uncomfortable, so you need to go hunting now." I projected a need to leave into the big cat and with another yawn that displayed an impressive set of teeth, it jumped down from the sofa and strolled away, looking like it owned the place.

Looking back at Miss Solas, I discovered that she was looking at me with wide eyes. "How did you do that?"

"Cats like me for some reason." I shrugged. "I never had a problem with them, no matter what their size is."

She was silent for a moment, but then asked, "What about lions and tigers? Ever meet some of those?"

"Sure. Same response." Since she was clearly thinking about something, I added. "Why do you ask?"

That made her smile, which lit up her face. "My sister, Lola works at a jaguar rescue centre not far from here and they're having trouble with a wounded jaguar that was brought in yesterday. It goes crazy at the mere sight of a human." She tilted her head a bit as she looked at me. "Do you think you could help?"

"I don't know, but I'm willing to try."

"Thank you."

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

For the next hour, I showed Miss Salas around on the estate, telling her about the plans and how it, according to Esther, was going to be run. Due to the need for secrecy, the version she got was slightly edited, leaving out anything about kidnapped or abused children, but aside from that, I kept it as truthful as possible.

To my relief, Nova Salas was nodding and smiling most of the time, and when we had finished the tour, she said. "Senor Ivan, I have to tell you, that when I was asked to inspect this compound, I had my doubts, but I must confess that this has exceeded my wildest expectations. Once you have hired the required staff, I'll come back to have a chat with the, but so far I'll happily endorse this."

"Thank you."

"No, thank you." She said with a smile. "I've seen several projects that were just made to get the government subsidy and they were two steps short of horrible."

"There's a government subsidy for orphanages?"

"Yes." Nova Salas said, sounding surprised. "You didn't know?"

"No. It's not factored into the budget." I said with a shrug.

"I know and it puzzled me when I saw it."

"You'll have to ask Gabriella Delgado about it. She's the one handling the finances and I'm sure there's a reason for omitting the government subsidy." I thought for a moment. "What's the downside of receiving that government subsidy?"

"Oh, they're under much stricter supervision than the ones that're strictly privately founded." Said Salas. "Not in regard to the children's welfare, but certainly when it comes to the curriculum taught in the school." She tilted her head. "Which reminds me... The curriculum I received looked well thought out and I applaud you for that."

"Thank you, but that is not my doing. The praise goes entirely to Miss Esther Gul. She's a teacher by profession and in charge of the teaching part."

"I'll look forward to talking with her at some point." Salas said with a smile and paused before she said, "We seem to be done here, so I have to ask if you have time to see the jaguar we were talking about earlier?"

"Certainly. Give me a moment to change into pants and boots, and we can go."

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

The Jaguar Rescue Center proved to be less than half an hour away by car, so I called Halima Jobe and had her meet me there with a car, so she could drive me home afterwards, and left the four girls in the capable hands of the guards, while Nova Sala and I went to look at the wounded jaguar.

"So, how does this rescue center work?" I asked Salas while on the way. "Do they have a lot of jaguars there?"

That made Nova Salas laugh. "That was what I thought at first as well, but the reality is somewhat different. There're few jaguars left, so the center mainly deals with ill, injured and orphaned monkeys, birds, sloths and snakes." She sent me a smile. "That being said, they have a competent staff of veterinarians and care takers, that can handle most problems with the animals that're brought to them."

"Well, you clearly like the place." I told her with a smile of my own, causing her to nod, as she said. "Hugo Alférez, the founder of the center, is married to my sister and I have spent a good amount of time there. They do a lot of good work."

Since I had no idea what that work was, I asked about it and Nova Salas was more than happy to tell me how the center received animals in need of help from both private people and official organizations such as the police and fire brigade. Those animals were then nursed back to health and in most cases reintroduced to their native habitats, while a few would stay at the center for the rest of their lives. That had created a zoo of a sort with the animals that had to stay and as the zoo was open for visitors, at least some of the cost of running the center came from entrance fees from the tourists.

The explanation and my questions took most of the trip and she had just finished talking when she pulled up in front of what looked like a large local farm and parked the car under a large sign with the words 'Alférez Jaguar Rescue Center' written over a logo featuring a jaguar.

There were plenty of tourists walking around looking at animals, while larger groups of visitors were getting guided tours of the many enclosures, but Nova Salas led us away from all that and into the back of the compound, where the newly arrived animals were kept.

"Could you please wait here for a moment? I need to talk with Hugo."

"Sure." I said and leaned against a fence as she disappeared into a building. It was an interesting place, as the area around me was filled with enclosures with a wide variety of plants and animals, leaving no shortage of things to look at, and I was admiring a colourful bird, when I suddenly became aware of a presence right next to me.

Looking down, I discovered a large cat sitting on the ground next to me. About a meter long from the tip of its nose to the end of the tail, it looked somewhat like a small jaguar, but the yellow coat with black spots had a different colour scheme, the ears were rounder, the eyes larger and, in my opinion, it looked prettier than the jaguar.

"Oh, hi there, beautiful." I chuckled and slowly squatted beside it. The cat did lean away for a few heartbeats, but curiosity took over and a moment later it was sniffing my hand, finding it agreeable enough to give it a few licks, followed by it bunting my hand with its head, purring happily while it did so.

I scratched its head, making it purr louder.

"What're you doing up in the middle of the day?" I asked it softly, judging it to be a night hunter due to the size of its eyes. "You should be sleeping now."

"Her name is Princesa." A man's voice said. "And she usually gets a snack at this time of day."

I looked up and saw Nova Salas standing next to a grey-haired man some meters away, both were looking at me. The man with surprise in his face, while Nova looked satisfied. "See, Hugo. I told you."

He nodded shortly at her words and walked closer, causing the cat to stop bunting my hand and sit up, looking dignified as cats tend to do. "Princesa is usually very shy, so excuse me for being surprised by her reaction to you. I'm Hugo Alférez, by the way."

I stood slowly and took the offered hand. "Nice to meet you. I'm Ivan Emilian."

He smiled. "Yes, Mrs. Salas told me that... and that you're a cat-whisperer."

That made me raise my eyebrows in surprise. "I'm afraid I don't know that expression."

The smile on his face grew wider. "Oh sorry. It means that you have a strong affinity for cats."

"Ahh. Yes."

"Good. Mrs. Salas told me that she had persuaded you to take a look at the wounded jaguar" He gestured down the pathway between the enclosures. "It's this way. We managed to stitch the wounds where the poacher had shot her, but when the sedation wore off, we tried to put her in a smaller cage for easier handling. That didn't work as she panicked and was hurting herself, so we placed her in a bigger enclosure." He grimaced as he started to walk. "Usually Doctor Alonso, our cat specialist, would tend to it, but she's in Barcelona for a conference and won't be back before the weekend."

Having no idea what to say to that, I just nodded and followed him down the path, until we arrived at a larger enclosure, where four of the staff-members were taking photos.

Hugo politely asked them to leave and turned to me. "We don't get Jaguars that often, so it has become a photo opportunity."

I looked into the enclosure. It wasn't as densely packed with plants as many of the other enclosures I had seen and the Jaguar was clearly visible, laying under some plants, looking like it was sleeping.

"Do you need anything special?" He asked. "A snack or something?"

I shook my head. "No, but people need to stay away for now. I don't want them to make the cat jumpy."

That made him chuckle. "Got it." Then he gestured towards the enclosure. "It's all your, just don't go inside."

"Don't worry." I said as I walked to the enclosure.

The Jaguar looked up as I came nearer, so I sat down just outside the metal fence, reached out with my mind, and connected with the cat, so I could discover what was wrong.

It turned out to be female and since she didn't have human mind, I had to rely on her memory to discover what had happened, so it took me a while to piece the information together. She had given birth to two cubs, but after some time a male jaguar had entered her territory, so she hid the cubs in her den and went out to lure the male away.

Unfortunately, two humans armed with rifles had suddenly appeared, shot the male, and wounded her. She had gotten away, but weak from blood loss she had collapsed. Then she had woken in the cage she was in now and despite being in pain, she wanted to get back to her cubs.

I turned my head to look at Nova Salas and Hugo Alférez, who were watching me. "You said she was brought in yesterday?"

Hugo nodded. "Yes, around noon."

"I think she has cubs somewhere out there." I told her as I gestured at the big cat. "She has all the signs." I paused and added, "How long can jaguar cubs last on their own?"

Hugo shrugged. "That depends on so many factors that it's almost impossible to say. One moment, I'll get hold of the team that was here when she arrived. They must know where she was found."

He walked away and I turned back towards the jaguar, observing it for a moment. It was in much pain, but it wasn't aggressive as some animals become when wounded.

Taking a deep breath, I entered a Vis Meditation called Vigil (Baylon: The Watcher). It was originally designed to keep the Vis user awake while observing the surroundings, but I had discovered that using it had the same effect on cats as simply meditating or sleeping and as a bonus, I was awake while doing it.

It took a while before the jaguar reacted, but finally it got up and ambled over to the fence and lay down again.

I cancelled the meditation and reached out with my mind again, blocking some of the pain receptors in her mind, so she would feel better, but not so many that she would feel she was healed.

"Easy girl." I said softly, as I slowly reached so I could touch her fur through the fence. "We'll search for your cubs."

As my hand touched her fur, she turned her head to look at me, but as she didn't object to it, I entered another Vis Meditation, a healing one this time, and released a good amount of Vis Energy. Being a minor healing, it would only remove some of the smaller bruises and double the speed of healing for a week or so, but it was better than nothing.

I let my hand stay on her, gently caressing her as the Vis-healing took effect. Gradually she became less tense and placed her head on her paws again with a satisfied sigh, as the pain lessened.

"Now, rest and heal, while we try to find your cubs." I said in a low voice and looked over at Nova Salas to see if Hugo had returned. He had and was looking at me as if he didn't believe his own eyes. The same did the young man and two women who had joined them and I guessed that they were the team Hugo had mentioned.

When Hugo saw me looking over, he shook his head slightly. "If I hadn't seen this, I wouldn't have believed it." Then he shrugged. "Anyway, the jaguar was found near Paraiso Road only half an hour from here, but I doubt that we'll be able to find the cubs or where she was shot."

The younger of the two women snorted. "Damn Poachers!", causing the others to nod in unison.

"So, it's illegal to shoot jaguars?" I asked.

"Yes." Stated Nova Salas. "You didn't know that?"

"Nope. I don't hunt for sport and cats are in general not tasty." I said with a smile and went back to the subject. "If it's illegal, who do you suspect did the shooting?"

"Well, none of the local farmers." Hugo said slowly while thinking. "They can't afford the fine and have developed other ways of catching the jaguars that go after their livestock."

"My guess is poachers from Nicaragua." Stated the young man. "We're not far from the border and the punishment for hunting Jaguars is much harsher in Nicaragua, so from time to time they try their luck here."

"Bastards." Mumbled Nova Solas.

I ignored her and looked at the young man that have spoken. "I guess they would come here by car or boat. Is that correct?"

"Partly. As far as I know, a car is much more likely. They can park the car near their hunting area and go look for a Jaguar." He tilted his head. "Why do you ask?"

"Because it's extremely difficult to track a big cat through a jungle," I explained, "but people are an entirely other matter, so if someone may have noticed an unknown car near that road you mentioned, we might be able to find their starting point and track them from there."

His eyes widened. "That's brilliant!" He turned towards Hugo. "The volunteers can call the people they know in this area and have them spread the word.

The grey-haired man nodded slowly, not looking completely convinced. "Do that, Marco. At least we can give it a try."

The young man grinned and hurried down the path to the main building, almost colliding with Halima Jobe, as she came walking down the path towards us at the same time. To my surprise, the South-African security guard wasn't wearing her usual uniform but was dressed in pants of a light yellowish colour Petra had told me was called Khaki, boots of the same colour, and was wearing a bright yellow blouse to go along with it. It looked good on her, as it contrasted with her dark skin, and the only reason for my surprise was that it was the first time I'd seen her in civilian clothes, as she was normally dressed in the security uniform.

"Hello, Mr. Ivan." Halima greeted me as she came nearer. "I've brought the car as you asked."

"Thank you, Miss Jobe." I said with a smile. "However, we have a situation here. Have you dealt with poachers before?"

She nodded shortly. "Yes, sir.

"Good." I said and proceeded to explain the situation to her, ending with "So, how would you handle it?"

The South-African didn't hesitate. "We close down the three roads going towards the border through the area's we control..." She showed her teeth with a brilliant smile. "... Which are four roads now, with the area of the boarding school included. Then we contact the Park Rangers in the area and tell them what is going on and while they get ready, we launch helicopters to search the area."

"Not much use." Commented Nova Salas sadly. "It'll be dark in a few hours."

Halima's smile widened a fraction. "Even better. The choppers have infrared- and night vision systems, making it easier to find heat sources in the dark. That includes engines and humans." She shrugged a little. "We use it to help both the Park Rangers and the Coast Guard when they need it."

I haven't seen any helicopters at Villa Bonita, so I did a quick search of the memory I had gotten from Parker and discovered, that the estate had no less than three helicopters, but lacking the facilities for refuelling and maintenance at the villa, they were stationed at a small local airfield. As Halima had said, they regularly aided the local Park Rangers, the Coast Guard and other government departments, whenever there was an emergency where they could help. Apparently, it was part of an old deal Parker had made, where the aerospace company he owned was allowed to test their helicopters in Costa Rican airspace, as long as they were available to help.

Not only did I only have a vague idea about what helicopters could do, but it was also clear, that Halima knew a lot more about the modern way of hunting poachers than I did, making me nod and say, "Let's make it happen. Miss Jobe, you're in charge of this. Get the rest of the security guards in on it and let's see if we can find those poachers. Aside from stopping them, we need to know where their camp is so we can track where they have been."

"Yes, sir. Please excuse me." Halima said as she took a cell phone from her pocket and walked away from us.

"Are you friends of Giles Oldershaw?" asked Hugo curiously. "As far as I know, Oldershaw's chopper is the only privately owned helicopter in the area."

I turned to look at him. "You might say that. Do you know him?"

He shrugged slightly. "Yes, he was very supportive when I started the Center and gave some substantial donations to make it happen, though I think he lost interest after a while. I haven't heard from him in years."

I shook my head slowly. "He had a brain aneurysm some years back and though he survived, he became withdrawn. A couple of months ago he suffered another attack and unfortunately, he didn't survive. I'm his nephew and heir, but due to some legal stuff, nothing is official yet."

Hugo Alférez looked sad, as he said. "Sorry to hear that. He was a good man."

Fortunately, Marco, the young man that had run towards the main building earlier, chose that moment to return, so instead of commenting, I nodded a 'thank you' and looked at Marco. "Did you get the word out?"

He nodded eagerly. "Yes, and I asked people to call here if they knew something. Michelle agreed to take the phone."

"Good."

"So, what do we do now?"

"We wait for information." I said dryly. "Unless some of you have photos of the area around that road, in which case I would like to see them just to get a feel of the terrain."

There was a moment of silence as everybody looked around, but finally Hugo Alférez said, "I don't think we have any pictures. I mean... It's a road and nothing special."

"Then we wait", I said calmly, while sighing silently. If someone have had pictures, I would have had a chance of recognizing something from the jaguars memory, which could help us find the cubs. A thought hit me. "I haven't talked with the forest rangers. Do they use tracking dogs?"

Hugo Alférez nodded. "Yes. Otherwise, we wouldn't have a chance of finding wounded animals."

"Good point." I admitted.

It took almost two hours before anything happened and by that time, we were seated at a long table, eating a light dinner, that some of the staff had prepared for us, when Halima's phone rang and a moment later, she looked at us. "The helicopters found them, but they need a Park Ranger there to be able to do anything, so Elena and Afifa are coming here in the Banshee to pick us up here along with a Park Ranger named Sergio Ferrandis."

I nodded to myself. Elena and Afifa were the two helicopter pilots from Curtis' estate on the pacific side and according to their files, they were certified in a variety of civilian helicopters, besides the military transport helicopters they had been educated in.

The name Sergio Ferrandis made Hugo Alférez smile and nod. "He is a local and chief of the park rangers in this area."

"Good to know. " I said and looked at Halima. "When're they here?"

"In about ten minutes."

I stood. "Let's go out to meet them then."

"Sorry, but I'm staying here." Said Nova Salas. "Hunting poachers in the dark isn't really my thing."

"Good point." Said Hugo Alférez as he stood as well. "We'll see you later."

She tilted her head. "No offence, Hugo, but shouldn't you stay here and get everything ready 'til they return?"

Hugo hesitated for a moment and then sighed. "I guess you're right, but I feel like someone from the Center should be there."

"I can go." Suggested Marco eagerly. "I got nothing else planned tonight anyway."

Hugo looked thoughtfully at him for a moment, before saying. "Alright, Marco, but take care."

The young man nodded eagerly. "I will."

"See you later then."

The helicopter that settled down on a suitable piece of flat land was an impressive sight, looking like a monstrous insect, with a long, tubular fuselage stretching forward and two massive, swept-back wings extending from the sides. The cockpit sat atop the fuselage like the head of a predatory bird, giving it an intimidating, almost predatory appearance.

The sound was something else again. A thunderous roar of power and aggression that made my ears hurt.

I grimaced and looked at Halima, shouting to get heard over the engine noise. "Miss Jobe, if you want me in that thing, I'm going to need some ear protectors!"

She smiled and nodded as she shouted back. "They're in the chopper. I'll go get them!"

Once Halima, Marco and I were seated inside the helicopter, I was introduced to Sergio Ferrandis, an elderly man wearing the Park Ranger uniform. The ear protectors Halima had given me proved to contain the helicopters internal communication system, so we were able to talk with each other and Sergio Ferrandis wasted no time telling me how grateful he was for our help, as the Park Rangers didn't have any helicopters of their own to use against poachers, and that additional Park Rangers would arrive in ten minutes in their car.

"We're happy to help." I managed to say when he was done, just before I heard Elena say, "ETA is two minutes!"

Sergio Ferrandis looked surprised. "Already?! How fast is this thing?"

Halima looked over at him with a smile on her face. "About 300 km/h (186 mph)." She handed him a little black box with a button on the side and a cord connecting it to the wall. "You better get ready."

"Thank you."

"External speakers activated." Said Elena over the intercom a few minutes later "The show is all yours, Mr. Ferrandis."

The Park Ranger took a deep breath and held the black box to his mouth. "Attention. You're suspected of poaching and smuggling endangered species. You're instructed to lay down on the ground and keep still until further notice."

The black box had to be some kind of enhancer, because his voice was difficult to hear in the cabin, but I could hear it coming through the sides from the outside, audible even through the noise of the engines and rotor.

A moment later a strange clattering sound reached my ears, sounding somewhat like arrowheads hitting a shield wall, just faster and harder.

"They're shooting at us!" Shouted Marco in alarm.

"No worries." Replied Halima calmly. "This chopper is designed to transport soldiers into combat zones. Unless they have something bigger than assault rifles, we're perfectly safe here."

The intercom clicked on again. "They're shooting at us, Mr. Ferrandis. Do we have permission to shoot back?"

The Park Ranger had started to shake his head, but before he could say anything, Elena continued. "Otherwise, the Park Rangers in the cars will have an extremely warm welcome."

He cursed in Spanish. "Give them a second warning and if they shoot again, you have my permission, but please don't hit the vehicles. That is where they usually keep the animals."

"Roger that, Mr. Ferrandis." Answered Elena and repeated the warning, before she banked left as the chopper was hit by a second salvo.

A movement out of the window caught my eye and as I looked out, I saw another chopper swooping in. This one looked different as it had two rotors instead of one, both spinning gracefully above its sleek fuselage. Just like the one we were sitting in, the cockpit was enclosed by a large canopy made of glass and I imagined that it offered excellent visibility for the pilots. It also had short, swept-back wings extending from the sides and as I watched, lines of fire erupted from one of the small pods under the wings, racing towards the ground, followed by one from the other side.

"Halima, what am I looking at here?" I asked.

"A Dragonfly M3 Archer attack helicopter." She shouted to be heard over the noise from the engines and rotor. "They're not the kind of helicopters we normally have here, but two of them have been conducting live testing of a system upgrade this week, so we asked them to join the search." She paused and then added. "They're going to make those poachers sorry they decided to come here."

"Two vehicles approach from the north." Reported Elena over the intercom. "Can that be your Park Rangers, Mr. Ferrandis?"

"One moment, pilot." He said and used his cellphone to call someone. A moment later, he confirmed that the approaching cars were indeed the Park Rangers.

"Elena, can we land somewhere around here?"

"Not right here, but a kilometer up the road there's a place where we can land." The pilot replied.

"Do it." I told her and looked at Ferrandis. "I assume you want to join your people?"

"That would be best." He agreed and unstrapped a rifle. "Those poachers usually don't play nice, so you people better stay back."

Getting out of the chopper (I still didn't know why the machine was called that), Sergio Ferrandis took the lead, followed by Marco, Halima Jobe and I, as we walked down the road to the place where the poachers had made their camp. It was down a small sideroad, but it was easy to find as the other helicopter was hovering above it, searchlights illuminating the area.

The Park Rangers had arrived before we did and four of them were escorting two poachers to their cars, while the remaining two were searching for the vehicles.

In the open space between the vehicles there was a bloody heap, that was barely recognizable as the last poacher.

It was the first time I had seen the effect of modern military weapons, and they were shockingly effective. The bullets had torn through flesh and bone with ruthless efficiency, the torn and bloody clothes clinging to the ruined body like a crimson shroud of death.

Behind us, I could hear Marco throwing up at the sight of the mangled corpse but ignored it. I had seen death countless times before, but in that moment, I understood the brutal ease of modern weaponry. Granted, in the past people had been able to kill each other quite effectively, but the difference was that with the invention of modern weapons, one attacker could kill numerous enemies at the same time. A feat that hadn't been possible since Baylon times, where the powerful mages could destroy small cities if they wanted to. However, to reach that level of destruction, a mage had to study and train for several hundred years, while modern weapons were a product of technology, meaning any normal person could reach that level of destruction with a modern machine of war and only a few years of training.

Unless I was mistaken, it also meant that the nation with the most money to invest in the most advanced machines of war would dominate the world. That didn't mean that said nation would rule over everybody else, just that the sheer threat of those machines of war combined with a willingness to use them once in a while to remind people of them, would make most other nations comply with that nation's wishes without the need to use force. It had been so with most nations close to strong empires throughout history and with modern communication and speed of travel, a strong nation could influence most of the planet.

A quick search of Parker's memory showed that there were no less than three strong empires at the moment. USA was by far the strongest, followed by China and Russia. All three nations had strong armed forces and advanced technology, though the USA was clearly in front on that account. At least according to Parker and I had no reason to doubt his assessment until I had learned more about the world.

"Not a pretty sight." Commented Halima, when she discovered what I was looking at.

"I've seen worse." I replied and looked over at Sergio Ferrandis. "Any animals in the trucks?"

"We'll find out in just a moment." He replied with a grim smile. "I'm glad that these criminals have been taken out. From the look of it, it's not the first time they have done this."

A moment out of the corner of my eye caught my attention and I focused on it without turning my head. A vaguely humanoid shape was sitting in a bush, looking like he or she was doing their best to stay hidden. "Miss Jobe. If you have a knife, hand it to me."

"Yes, sir." She said with surprise in her voice, but a moment later she handed me a combat knife.

I activated a Vis Power that enabled me to see in near darkness and looked at the shadow again. It was a young man, not much more than a boy, and while he looked harmless, he wasn't alone. Next to him a man with a beard was crouching, aiming a rifle at the Park Rangers, looking like he was waiting for the right time to shoot.

"People in the bushes. Don't shoot." I told Halima and Ferrandis, before I threw the knife in a hard underhand throw and sent out a mental attack in rapid succession. The hilt of the knife hit the man right in the head and since mental attacks were faster than a thrown knife, they both hit him at the same time, causing him to fall and let go of the rifle.

With a curse, Halima drew a gun and pointed it towards the bushes from where the sound had come and shouted, "Don't move!" in Spanish.

Ferrandis sprang into action as well, lifting his rifle and repeating Halima's order.

I tried to see what the young man was doing, but at the same moment, the chopper circled around and the extremely bright searchlight hit my eyes, blinding me.

With a curse, I cancelled the Vis Power and kneeled on the ground, making me a smaller target while I waited for my vision to return.

"Are you hurt, sir?" I heard Halima ask next to me.

"No, just blinded by the light." I answered with a shake of the head. "Give me a few minutes and I'll be fine."

"Yes, sir." She paused and said, "That was quite a chance you took there, sir."

"Not really." I answered, covering my eyes with a hand. "I usually hit from that distance. The problem was making sure that I didn't kill him, by hitting with the point first. I don't know the law here and I don't want to end up in jail."

"Makes sense." She was silent for a few heartbeats, before she asked. "Why not use a gun, sir?"

"Because I'm better with a knife." I explained drily. "I can make that throw ninety-nine times out of a hundred, but with a gun, it's more like one time out of ten."

I didn't add that Petra had persuaded me to try shooting a handgun at the Villa's shooting range, but not only did the noise bother me, I was also not a good shot. At least not naturally and I didn't feel like using a lot of time trying to learn a weapon I didn't like.

"That's bad." Halima chuckled. "Good thing I had a knife then."

"Yes."

When my vision returned a little later, it felt like an anti-climax. The poachers had been secured in the car, including the young boy and the unconscious man in the bushes. The cars had been searched and the Park Rangers had found several endangered birds sitting in cages, along with the skin of a jaguar and two jaguar cubs. A quick search of the memory from the jaguar even showed that the two cubs had exactly the same markings, making it highly likely that they were the two cubs from the mother jaguar in the Jaguar Rescue Center.

On the bright side Ferrandis was extremely grateful for our help and happily gave the now recovered Marco a wooden box with the two jaguar cubs inside, so they could be transported back to their mother at the Jaguar Rescue Center as soon as possible.

The way Ferrandis stressed 'as soon as possible' made Halima Jobe look sideways at me, like she was asking if I agreed, so I just nodded. There was nothing more for us to do here, so we might as well take off and get the cubs back to the center.

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

Rescue

Mid-August, Costa Rica

The house where at least some of Curtis' kids were kept was located on a fenced estate in the mountains outside the capitol of San Jose and was well guarded, according to Petra's research. Like the boarding school, it was a former hotel with a lot of gardens and natural areas surrounding it, making it extremely difficult for anyone to approach undetected. The buildings were located in a valley in the mountains about an hour from San Jose, far away from any prying eyes.

The biggest of several problems was that at least some of the armsmen that guarded the kids most likely were the same type of mind-controlled drones I had encountered in Curtis' dungeon, which meant that they had orders to kill the kids in case of an attack. There were eighteen guards with six guards on the inside and the rest was tasked with guarding the outside, working eight-hour shifts in groups of four, so that one group was sleeping, another group was relaxing and the last was on active guard duty. There was a small overlap during 'business hours', but that was the general system.

I wasn't surprised. It was almost the same system that every military- or defence- force I knew of had used since the dawn of time for the simple fact that it worked, but that the guards on the outside at least had some spare time in which to relax told me that they weren't as heavily mind-controlled as those on the inside.

Besides the eighteen armsmen, Petra and her group had spotted at least two people, who didn't look like guards and I assumed that the compound had a small staff to make food, clean and everything else a large compound needed. However, since they were in a house not connected to the building housing the kids, they didn't worry me.

What did worry me was the electronic security and as it was Curtis and not Parker who had set it all up, I didn't have the codes or anything else that would allow a small force to enter undetected.

The size of the house was also a problem, as the kids were kept in different places in the large compound, making it hard to secure their safety.

The only outsiders who could get inside the house without raising an alarm, were the paying customers and even those had codes and secret passwords, depending on who they were. They were also known by the guards, which eliminated the possibility of reading the correct codes from someone's mind and using them to gain entrance. Even the delivery truck that brought them food once a week was useless, as it was an old pick-up truck with no places to hide in.

In short, the possibility of conducting a successful rescue without the use of Powers was nil and even with Powers, getting all the kids out alive was dicey.

On the positive side, the guards around the perimeter looked relax and slightly bored, having guarded the place for a long time without anything happening. They also didn't have any visible guns as that would have brought the attention of the police. Of course, that didn't mean they didn't have any weapons, but at least it would be handguns and not military grade rifles.

Making a decision, I had the women follow one of the customers to his home, and then visited him in the night to read his mind while he slept. Besides giving me a better idea of the layout of the estate, it revealed one important piece of information: There were no cameras inside the house, only on the outside and nothing was being recorded.

That piece of information was the reason why I was sitting in the back of the Dragonfly 12 helicopter, dressed in Iron Silk, and wearing a backpack with a parachute, as it flew towards San Jose airport at almost maximum altitude. Though it felt just as hideous as driving in a car, the luxurious equipped helicopter wasn't as noisy as I had feared, and the discomfort could be tolerated.

As one of the choppers from Curtis' villa, it was a civilian helicopter and not one of the attack choppers from Villa Bonita. I did suggest using them, but Petra and Esther both disagreed as it would be almost impossible to hide the use of the helicopters military weapons and with the absence of a regular military in Costa Rica, the government would quickly figure out who had pulled off the raid.

They did think that using the choppers to get the kids back to the school was a good idea and from what I understood the mountains made it almost impossible to track the helicopters with modern detection systems (They called it a radar).

In front of me Afifa, the good-looking Pakistani who was the pilot, turned her head to look in my direction. "We're at the position in thirty seconds. Are you sure about this, sir?"

I was tempted to say no but nodded with a smile instead. "Yes, it's the only way we can do this fast enough."

From the look she sent me, I was sure she thought I was insane, but instead of commenting on it, she looked resigned, glanced at her watch, and slowed down the helicopter to a full stop. "Now, sir."

With a nod, I opened the door to the cabin and jumped into the night.

The wind whistled in my ears as I fell towards the ground. The helicopter had been farther above ground than I had thought it would be, but I could see the lights from the estate shining like stars against the darker earth and angled my body, so I fell towards it. It seemed like it rushed up to meet me, but as I used my ability to levitate it slowed down to an acceptable speed and I looked around for a safe place to land.

There were none on the ground, so I aimed for the roof of the main building since that was the largest target and touched down silently next to a chimney.

Just to be on the safe side in case there were cameras the customer didn't know about, I tied the scarf around the lower part of my face and placed the hat on my head to conceal the white hair.

Then I placed the unused parachute on the roof, drew my knife and stalked towards the rooftop windows Petra had promised me were open every night. She was right and a moment later, I was inside the building.

Reaching out with my mind, I contacted Delina. "< I'm in >"

"< One moment >" The communication expert replied.

I stayed where I was, until she sent. "< All wires have been cut and the house is now isolated, sir. Beware there's still a single customer inside. Good hunting >"

"< Thank you >"

Closing the connection, I started my search, going through the buildings one by one. Fortunately, there weren't many of the mind-controlled guards and while taking them out did take some time, it was more due to the distance between them, than any difficulty in the take-down itself.

Just to make sure that nobody entered the buildings after I had left them, I used an Ars Mentalis on the doors, that made them expand slightly and jamming them in the doorframe after I had closed and locked them after me.

It also meant that as I moved on, the chances of someone trying the doors and discovering they were blocked grew as time went by and I breathed a sigh of relief, when I reached the end of the third and last building after having taken out the two guards in there. That left only the staff and my mind-read of the guards had shown that they lived alone in a building not directly connected to the rest.

I reached out with my mind to connect with Petra. "< Go! >"

"< On our way >" She replied, followed by a "< Now >" a while later.

At first, I couldn't hear anything, but then the distant sound of gunfire tore through the silence of the night. Unlike the single 'pops' from a pistol that I had heard at the shooting range or the buzzing sound from the helicopter's weapons, this one was a series of rapid cracks, with each shot blending into the next in quick succession. The sound was answered by gunshots that sounded like they were just outside the building.

A movement out of the corner of my eyes, made look in that direction. One of the doors to the kids' room had been opened and a middle-aged man dressed in a housecoat walked into the hallway, stopping abruptly when my mental attack hit his mind and sent him into a coma. A moment later he hit the floor, causing a muted yelp from within the room.

Walking over, I looked into the room and discovered a young boy sitting on a bed, looking terrified. Instead of trying to talk with him, I put him into a deep sleep.

The sounds of guns being fire had disappeared and I waited patiently, until I heard the sound of engines and then reached out to Petra. "< Status, please >"

"< The guards outside are dead or have surrendered and the area is secure >" She replied. "< No casualties, but Svetlana took a shot in the shoulder and is out. According to both Riya and Shoba, we got to get her to a hospital soon >" She paused for a moment and changed the subject. "< I've sent the other group to capture the manager and the ordinary staff >"

"< Good. See you inside >" I answered and walked over to the doors to remove the trick on them, so they could be opened. A moment later, Petra's group of dark clad and hooded soldiers were inside. I handed them the keys I had taken from the guards and they started to empty the rooms.

Instead of helping them, I asked Petra. "Where's Svetlana?"

"In the Landrover, sir."

"Show me."

As Petra had said, Svetlana was laid out in the back of one of the big Landrovers, while Riya and Shoba were trying to stop the bleeding. The bullet had hit in one of the few spots not covered by the modern armor they were wearing and had penetrated deep into the shoulder, breaking bones, and rupturing blood vessels on the way.

Despite her light brown skin, Shoba looked pale as she said. "I don't think she's going to make it. She's bleeding internally, and we can't stop it."

"Hospital?" suggested Petra calmly.

"She'll be dead before we reach it. Even if we use a helicopter to get her there." Answered Riya in a quivering voice.

Looking at the wounded Russian woman, I sighed. Internal bleeding severely limited the options I had. If I used Vis to heal the wound, it would require hours of meditation, which we didn't have time for right now, and that left only Ars Mentalis. That too had its problems, one of them being that it was too efficient to explain away easily, but I would have to deal with that later.

With a sigh, I said. "Shoba, you need to leave. You too, Petra. You're in charge of the mission."

For a moment, they both looked like they were going to protest, but with the loyalty codex, they really didn't have a choice and then Riya and I were alone. "Riya, you need to guard me and stop anyone from disturbing me. That's an order."

"Yes, sir." She said, looking slightly confused as I took off my jacket and shirt to avoid any interference from the clothes.

Placing my hand on Svetlana's wounded shoulder, I sent my senses into her body, looking for the bullet. It had fragmented slightly, but wasn't hard to find and using telekinesis, I got the fragments to the surface. Returning my senses to my own body, I used my knife to cut the bandages off, ignoring Riya's muted expression of horror, and removed the metal pieces.

The problem with Ars Mentalis is that by and large, you can only heal yourself. While that is very nice, it's not useful for healing other people, so a method was invented to overcome that problem. Called Tralativa (Baylon: Transfer), it transfers a wound or any other medical problem from the patient to the healer. Needless to say, this can be extremely dangerous and usually hurts a lot, but it had the advantage of being both swift and efficient. At least for the patient.

With a sigh, I took a leather strap from a small pocket in my belt, placed it in my mouth and bit down in anticipation of the pain that was about to come and activated the Ars Mentalis trick.

A shimmering field surrounded both Svetlana and I for a few heartbeats and then my shoulder felt like it was on fire as the wound was transferred from her to me, while hers were healed instantly.

Pain shot through my body, as bone broke, blood vessels ruptured, and nerves were torn apart.

It took a lot of self-control not to scream and I groaned in pain through the leather strap as I closed my eyes and concentrated on the numerous Ars Mentalis tricks needed to heal the wound. Mental energy soared through my body, cleaning everything and forcing the damaged body parts into their right places, before fusing the blood vessels back together. More mental energy surged as I followed by healing the bones, nerves, flesh and finally the skin.

It took time, but fortunately the pain subsided as the healing progressed and while it would take a while before I could move without reopening the wound, I still breathed a sigh of relief. In that respect, healing was like glueing something together and putting clamps on it: Once the glue was into place, it took some time before it had hardened enough to become permanent, but at least you didn't have to hold it.

I spent some time enjoying the sheer feeling of not being in pain before I opened my eyes.

Svetlana was still out cold, but Riya was looking at me with expressions of disbelief on her face, which in my experience was one of two possible responses for people seeing Ars Mentalis healing for the first time. The other response was fear, and I was glad that wasn't the case here. For some reason, it was never awe or wonder, which would have been nice for a change.

Riya found her voice. "Are you okay?"

Letting the leather strap fall from my mouth, I said "I will be in a little while."

She shook her head. "If I hadn't seen that with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed it." She paused for a moment, before asking. "Did it hurt?"

"Exactly as much as being shot, but it was the only way to do it in time," I said. "Just give me a little while to finish healing... then we can move on."

"What about Stella?"

"Her wound is gone, but her body still suffered a violent impact and will need time to recover. She won't wake up for a few hours."

Riya leaned closer and gave a soft kiss. "Thank you."

"Well, I sent them into harm's way. The least I can do is to heal them if it's possible."

She nodded with a smile. "Anything I can do?"

"No really. I just need some time."

"Well, then stay here until the helicopter arrives." She looked at my shoulder. "Can I touch your shoulder?"

"As long as you don't punch it." I replied with a slight smile.

"Good, then I'll use the time to wash off the blood." Riya said.

"Thank you."

Riya took her time cleaning away the blood and when she was done, the shoulder was healed enough for me to dress again with some assistance from her.

The timing was perfect, as I could hear the helicopters approaching just as I left the Landrover and a moment later the first one landed in the former hotel's parking lot. It was the same M8 Banshee that I had been in when we looked for the poachers earlier in the week, and while it surprised me somewhat, that Petra had chosen a military chopper as a transport, it did make sense, as it was designed to carry a group of soldiers.

A moment later the other helicopter came into view as it also landed on the dimly lit parking lot.

This one was even larger than the first one and I recognized it from what I had seen in Parker's memory as the civilian Dragonfly 30, that belonged to Villa Bonita. As the name implied, it originally had room for thirty passengers, but the version at the estate had so much soundproofing and other luxury upgrades, that it could only transport twenty-five persons.

As soon as the helicopters had touched down and the doors had been opened, the women began guiding the kids into them, with most going into the Dragonfly 30. Other carried the stretcher with Svetlana into the Dragonfly Banshee and as soon as every kid was safely inside, the doors closed and the choppers took off, heading towards Vista Verde.

"Shouldn't you have been in the chopper as well?" asked Riya as she left the Landrover and discovered me standing in the parking lot.

"No. I need to read the minds of the surviving guards and wipe their memory, before we leave this place." I told her. "Oh... and I need to persuade both the customer I knocked out inside and the guards to go to the police and confess their crimes."

"Ahh... as you did with the scumbag in Malaga?"

"Not entirely the same, but something in that style."

"Ah... well, good luck with that."

"Thank you."

The rest of the night was a flurry of activity. As soon as I had done what I had told Riya, Ayanna and Delina asked me to help them with the staff, as the two of them were trying to gain access to the computer.

Marching over to the prisoners, I discovered that Curtis had put a loyalty codex on them, preventing them from telling anybody anything about the place. It didn't prevent me from reading their minds though and it didn't take long before Ayanna and Delina had the passwords they needed.

They also gave us the code to a large safe, so while Ayanna and Delina worked on the computer, Petra and I opened the safe.

"Now, that's a lot of money." Said Petra calmly as she saw stack after stack of neatly stacked bills. Like I had discovered in Malaga, the money was all in U.S. Dollars, once again proving that it was the preferred currency of the underworld. "Why the hell are they still here? That's just inviting trouble."

"They're waiting for Curtis to come back." I told her, having read that from the minds of the one responsible for the money. "He was the one taking care of the money, except paying the guards and other normal expenses."

"So, this is what... four to five months' worth of profit?"

"Yes." I confirmed. "Have someone put these into bags. We're taking them with us. If nothing else, they can pay for more rooms at Delgado's orphanages." I spotted a stack of files. "We need everything in here. If it's about the kids, it needs to disappear. If it's about the customers, we'll hand it over to the police."

"Got it." She said with laughter in her voice. "But before we do that, we're making copies of it, so it can't just disappear."

"Good idea. The same goes for whatever Delina and Ayanna finds in the computer."

"Yes, sir." She said automatically and then laughed. "You sound just like a superior office and it's making me say 'sir' in each sentence."

I winked at her. "I might try that later, then. It seems to work."

"Don't." She said dryly. "Two superior officers have tried that, and it didn't work out too well for them."

"Sir!" called Delina from the computer before I could answer. "I got a client list, but it's coded."

I had no idea how to decipher a computer code, but all codes take time to break. "Can we take it along with us?"

Delina nodded. "Yes, but it would be better just to make a copy of the hard-drive and leave the machine here."

Instead of asking what a hard-drive was, I nodded. "Do that."

"Yes, sir."

"And leave the computer open so the police don't have to use the codes. Have you found anything about the kids?"

She shook her head. "Nothing."

"Good. Then I'll assume that is what the paper files are for."

"That is a good bet, sir."

"Alright. Get moving then." I said and walked into the room that held the staff. There were still some people that needed their memory wiped and the women were a lot more competent with computers than I was.

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

Cleaning up and getting back to Villa Bonita took most of the night and it was early morning before Petra and I were sitting on the patio outside Villa Bonita, tired to the bone, but glad that everything had gone according to plan.

"By the way," said Petra as she poured juice into a glass. "How long do you think it'll take to heal the kids and bring them back to normal?"

"Well, I start working with them for real tomorrow and I estimate that the basics will take about two weeks. After that they'll need support for a while. I'm guessing about half a year, extending to a year for those who have been here the longest."

She raised her beautiful, sculptured eyebrows in surprise. "That was fast. Ester said it would take them years of therapy to get over it."

"I'm a Mentat." I reminded her. "The mind is my specialty, and I can use powers to speed the process up a lot. I just hope the kids have the same kind of mind control as the four girls from Curtis' house, since I can deal with that."

"Good." She replied with a little smile and emptied the glass before she moved over to hug me. "At least that's one problem solved for now."

I returned the hug. "One problem? What other problems are you thinking about?"

"The other mind-controlled sex-slaves. You know, the ones you told me about one of the first evenings here."

"Ahh. What about them?"

"We, that is Delina, Ester, Ayanna and Riya and I, talk about them from time to time, and a couple of days ago, Delina brought up a good point. If the sex slaves can't be restored to the way they were before, it is possible for them to become normal functioning human beings, but with a different personality than before?"

The 'sex-slaves' Petra was talking about were the many women, whose personality Curtis and Parker had destroyed in their effort to make a perfect sex-slave. They were taken good care off and lived in small groups that shared a large apartment or small house, depending on the location. Everything was paid or taken care of for them, they had a weekly allowance that they could use on whatever they fancied and bodyguards to protect them.

It sounded good, if you didn't know that the women had their minds warped and their personalities destroyed. With little to no will left, they were addicted to the pleasure they got during sex and lived only to please their customers or whoever they were commanded to please.

To make it even worse, most of the women couldn't be healed. Curtis and Parkers crude, but powerful, method had done too much damage and there was no way, I could restore them to how they were before.

Looking into the air, I thought it over. Delinas suggestion was a possibility I hadn't considered, since according to my Baylon way of thinking, once the personality had been permanently changed, the person that once was, was dead. Mostly because such a major change normally meant that the Centrum Potentia was damaged beyond repair. However, as humans didn't have a Centrum Potentia to start with, that wasn't a problem, and it 'only' came down to how much damage Curtis and Parker had done to the minds of their victims. Since they had become better with experience, some of the newer sex slaves might have a chance of a new life as different versions of themselves.

The bad news was that it would take a long time and a lot of mental power. So much power that I needed the help of at least four other Mentats. Alternatively, I could try to find a Baylon Focus Crystal, which would multiply any power put into it, but I haven't seen a Focus Crystal since Baylon disappeared and the chance of finding one was slim. On the bright side, Focus Crystals were not magical, so the magic wouldn't have consumed them by now and as crystals, they didn't corrode. There even was a chance that someone had found one and used it a decoration, as they didn't know what it was.

"It is possible, but it will take a lot of power." I said slowly. "Mental power that is, so none of you can help and the twins won't be ready for years."

"What about Shelly?"

"Unlikely, but I won't rule it out. Unfortunately, I'll need four assistants, so even if Shelly becomes good enough, I still need one more. It was still a very good idea, though."

"Yeah, just too bad it can't be done." She replied, sounding slightly bitter.

"You're wrong. It can be done... I just need to find the right people or the right way..." I stopped speaking as a thought hit me.

When I had done the Vis Ritual on Karen in Malaga, a lay line had interfered and almost killed us by power overload. That at least was one place where I would have power enough to do it alone if I were there at the right time.

Another place was the ley line node in the ocean we had passed on the way across the Atlantic. It was even a better option as that one wasn't depending on a specific time.

"You have an idea." Stated Petra calmly and looked at me.

"Yes." I admitted. "Remember the shining pyramid we encountered on our way here?"

That made her nod with a smile. "Yeah. There's no chance I could forget an experience like that."

"The pyramid was there, because the area contains a lot of free, natural power." I explained. "If we get some of the women on Dream Weaver or a similar large ship, I might be able to draw upon that power to heal them."

"That would be so cool!" She said happily.

"Yes, but it'll take time and once I start, moving out of the area will severely hurt me, so we need to wait until hurricane season is over. Then we can test it."

"I just hope that it'll work." Petra sighed, followed by a yawn. "Sorry, but I really need to go get some sleep."

"Me too... Just be aware that I'll need all five of you in the courtyard around midday."

"For what?" She asked, yawning again, as she stood from the sofa."

"A surprise." I told her and stood as well. "Go sleep, Petra. You need it."

"I will. Good night."

"Sweet dreams."

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

After dinner the following day, I was standing in the courtyard, flanked by Petra, Delina, Riya, Esther, and Ayanna. We weren't the only ones there, as the four Asian security guards were there as well, while the rest of the security guards were watching the perimeter.

I smiled to myself, as I heard engine noise and a few moments later, an old bus with blacked out windows drove into the courtyard, parking in the middle of it.

The door opened, and a woman dressed in a leather jacket came out, nodded to us, and then turned around to help the next one out of the door. That was a short Asian woman and I guessed she would have been good looking if she hadn't had a look of total defeat on her face. She was followed by seven other Asian women.

Suddenly there was a howl of joy and both Su-Yun and Li-Na came rushing towards the bus, hugging, kissing, and talking with the newcomers the moment they reached them.

The look of relief on the newcomer's faces were heart-warming to see and tears of happiness ran down their faces, as smiles slowly started to show.

Turning towards the five stunned women, I quietly said. "Go help the newcomers, Su-Yun and Li-Na to the guest house, please. There're clothes for them in the closets and the cooks should have a meal ready for them shortly." Glancing over at Riya I added. "They'll need a medical check as well, but we're not in a hurry."

Glancing speechlessly at me, they nodded and walked over to the bus, while I kept my distance.

Using Erebus, I had been able to locate most of the Gippeumjo or Pleasure Group and simply buy most of them back. Three girls had been sold as brides somewhere in China and couldn't be found. Another had died when the brothel she lived in collapsed in an earthquake, but the remaining eight were here.

Despite the serenity of the situation, I almost laughed as Petra, Delina and the rest reached the group of North Koreans. All of them were tall and looked like beautiful female giants among the much shorter Asians, as they with kind words and gestures guided the others towards the guesthouse. Su-Yun caught my eye by looking up at me with a tear-streaked face before she smiled and bowed deeply.

I nodded back to her and still smiling, she turned and followed the rest into the house, while I walked upstairs to sit on the balcony.

Asking the five women from Malaga to be there when the newcomers arrived had been arranged more than a week ago, before the plans for liberating the kids was finished, as I had wanted them there to see and feel that if I promised something, I kept my word. Admittedly, after having liberated the kids, it wasn't necessary anymore, but the joy of both groups was a good thing to experience, so I had just followed the original plan.

Now I needed to relax. Despite sounding easy, healing the kids was going to be a horrible experience, as I needed to look through their memories and change the worst of them into something more bearable, to make it easier for the kids to live with and speed up their healing. Disgusting as it would be, it was just one of those things that needed to be done, and unfortunately, I was the only one that could do it.

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

Forging again

Mid-August, Costa Rica

Even with the powerful Ars Mentalis tricks I knew, healing the minds of the kids in the Youth Camp took four hours per person just to get started, meaning I couldn't heal more than two a day. Consequently, the whole process took about two weeks, just as I had told Petra.

It was gut-wrenching work and for once, painting wasn't enough to make me relax. I needed to hit something repeatedly, so I took up smithing again. Not only was it creative enough to activate my mind, but it also enabled me to use my body at the same time and there was a certain satisfaction in bringing a hammer down on a piece of red-hot metal.

The smithy at Villa Bonita was made to enable the elderly farrier to shoe horses and repair farm equipment, but it was more than adequate to make short blades and as Alonso Jasso, as the farrier was named, didn't use the forge in the evening, I could use it freely without disturbing anybody. Alonso had thought it was a joke at first, but when he discovered I knew what I was doing, he started to stay a few hours every other evening, chatting about smithing and helping me with the steel. I greatly appreciated the last part, as Alonso knew a lot about modern smithing and was more than willing to share that knowledge.

Like so many other things, metallurgy had come a long way in the last two thousand years and the steel they had now was better than anything I had seen since Baylon disappeared. Machines had been developed to lighten the workload, but as both the Chinese and Romans had used water-powered trip hammers, the biggest discovery for me was not the power hammer, but the grinding belt. It was a lot more effective than I was used to and after having spent up to eight hours a day using Ars Mentalis on healing the girls, I just wanted to do something manually, without spending days on it.

The first item I made was a steel butterfly pendant, designed to be used in a necklace. I had planned to forge one for each of the children but making the first one took me two days and instead of forging them, I used the steel butterfly to create a mould, enabling me to cast the pendants in bronze. That worked extremely well and after filing the edges and polishing the rest, I gave one to each girl, along with a necklace to go with it. Those I had already worked with got one right away, while I gave the rest their necklace at the end of our first session.

Still needing something to hit, I started to make steel knives. With the mood I was in, I didn't want to create weapons, so instead of making fighter blades, I made cooking knives, using the chef knives from the kitchen as models. Not only were they useful, but I could also use them as gifts to Alice, Cyra and Zena.

I was busy hammering out the tang of my latest creation when I heard Petra say. "Just as I thought you couldn't get sexier, you go and do this."

Smiling, I used the tongs to place the steel back in the forge before I looked up. Both Petra and Esther were standing at the entrance, looking at me.

"What do you mean?"

Petra grinned as she walked nearer. "Here you are, sweating in the light of a forge, dressed in a leather apron, and wearing a leather kilt, swinging a hammer to skillfully create beautiful knives out of raw steel. It doesn't get much manlier than that."

Chuckling, I shook my head. The light was low, because it enabled me to better judge the heat of the steel by its colour. The leather apron was spark resistant, so was the kilt and with the heat in the forge, wearing a kilt instead of pants made a lot of sense as it allowed for better ventilation.

Dressed in nice clean clothes, I had expected her to keep her distance, but she ignored the dirt and grime to give me a hug, reminding me once again that the beautiful and stylish women hugging me, was in the Army less than half a year ago and didn't mind a little dirt. "Have you worked it out of the system yet?"

"Almost." My eyes drifted over at the five chef knives in different sizes and styles laying on the workbench. "This will be the last one for now."

She followed my gaze and discovered the blades. "Wow... they look amazing."

"Very nice." Echoed Esther and walked over the workbench. "May I see?"

"Sure. Just remember they're cooking knives and not fighting knives."

She nodded and picked up one of the largest knives, testing its edge with a nail and gasped as the knife took the tip of the nail right off.

"Sorry, I should have warned you. They're sharp." I said, somewhat unnecessary. After having quenched and sharpened the blades, I had put hilts on them and used an Ars Mentalis trick to make them even sharper and harder. As a result, they were razor-sharp and about as durable as a modern steel blade could get.

"Too sharp, I think." Esther commented as she examined the edge. "Won't the edge roll over when hitting bone?"

"Not a chance. Try hitting the anvil with it. Edge first, please."

She swung the knife, hit the metal anvil with a twang and examined the blade, before looking at me. There was respect in her voice as she said. "Not a mark."

Petra studied the knife in Esther's hand for a moment and looked at me. "Can I persuade you to make a knife for me?"

"If I have the time. Do you have anything special in mind?"

She nodded. "A Kukri like the one you used in the warehouse in Malaga."

It took me a moment, before I realized she had to be talking about the Baylon Long Knife or Diucultro, since that was the blade I had used in the warehouse. Fortunately, the Ancient Greek had copied the design, which gave me a name I could use. "Oh, that wasn't a ... Kukri... It was a Greek Kopis."

"It looked like a Kukri from a distance, but you know it better than I do. No matter what it's called,

it looked efficient." She shrugged. "It'll be a good tool in the jungle."

"I'll make one for you, but it's not going to be right away," I said. "I'm really not in the mood to make fighting blades."

I suddenly remembered the blade in the forge and looked at it. The temperature was just right, so I asked them to stand aside and went back to work, finishing the tang, before I placed the blade in a crate filled with sand, allowing it to cool down slowly during the night. Tomorrow I would drill the holes where the hilt would be fastened and then quench the blade to make it hard.

I had expected the two women to be gone when I was finished, but they were still there. Petra was leaning against the doorframe and Esther was fiddling with the steel butterfly as they watched me work.

"Done?" asked Petra as I stretched.

"For tonight, yes."

"Good. Close down and come inside. You have been missed. You haven't really been around for the last fourteen days." She smiled and added. "Not to mention that Gabriella Delgado is coming to visit. She'll be here soon."

"I'll be there in a moment." I said as I started to place the tools back in their proper places.

Esther held up the steel butterfly pendant. "By the way, why have you made a steel version of the necklaces you gave the girls?"

"It's the other way around." I said and pointed at the mould, which was standing at the table, looking like a box. "I used the steel butterfly to make a mould for the bronze."

She widened her eyes in surprise. "You made them yourself? I thought you had bought them."

Shaking my head, I said. "I bought the necklaces. Making all the small links in a necklace is a pain and I avoid it whenever I can, but the pendants were cast from that mould."

Nodding slowly, Esther studied the mould, while Petra asked. "Why a butterfly? Wouldn't some kind of protective animal make more sense?"

"The butterfly is an ancient symbol of transformation and of a person's spirit or soul. Especially the souls of warriors." I explained, as I walked over to Esther and gently took the steel butterfly, dangling it in front of me. "One of the major points I make with the children is that they're innocent and without blame in all this, but it has happened and like the surroundings shape how a caterpillar reacts, so will their experiences shape them and their reactions."

The polished steel of the pendant glittered in the light from the forge, as I slowly turned it.

"However, when the caterpillar makes its transformation into a butterfly, it's no longer bound by these experiences and like a butterfly, they're not bound by their past as they grow up and spread their wings. They're free from the past and can enjoy their new life." I placed the steel butterfly on the table again and looked at Petra. "Does it make more sense now?"

She nodded wordlessly and to my surprise, both she and Esther had tears in their eyes.

"It's a beautiful thought." Said Ester, drying her eyes as she spoke. "I just hope it works."

"It'll work." I stated confidently. "I've used mental powers to help them overcome any shame, self-blame and self-loathing they might have, as well as changing those memories that are too painful to bear, into something endurable. However, I can only help them, make it easier for them. They must overcome it themselves or they will just be mind-manipulated and never be truly healed... Each caterpillar must become a butterfly by its own power, so to speak." I looked at Esther. "That is why... even with the use of mental powers... it's going to take a while before the kids are mentally healthy again, but with enough support they'll make that transformation."

Esther studied me for a moment and then stated, "You've done it before."

Petra nodded, and I felt her eyes on me as she slowly, but with great certainty in her voice added. "Yeah, with us."

Esther snapped her head around to look at the Ukrainian, who said. "Think about it. We were caught, held prisoner and mind controlled into having sex, yet all of us have accepted it without suffering any shame or self-blame, and moved on with our lives." She shrugged. "That doesn't normally happen without help."

Esther looked at me and I nodded. "Petra's right. I used it on all five of you when we were sailing from Malaga to the Canary Islands... When I was examining you right before the Adamant Shield was put in place."

"B-but, that didn't take that long." Ester stammered.

"There wasn't much to fix." I answered with a shrug. "You had had the time to talk about it, which helps a lot. I just eased away your self-blame."

There was silence in the forge for a few moments, but Petra gave me a new hug. "Nice to know and a belated thank you for the help!"

I kissed her. "You're welcome."

"Good." She said with a small laugh and guided me out of the smithy. "Time to take a bath. Gabriella eats dinner along with the staff at the orphanage and will come here afterwards. I've already told the guards to stay out of sight."

"Thank you."

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

When I walked out on the patio a couple of glass (Half an hour) later I felt much better. Forging had taken the edge of the aggression and the bath had relaxed me even more. Dressing in a light blue silk shirt and white pants like so many other Costa Rican somehow also made me feel better. It was perfect for the climate and felt good against my skin.

I had expected most of the women to be on the patio, but only Esther and Gabriella Delgado were there, and as soon as I walked out of the door, Esther excused herself and walked off, leaving me along with Gabriella.

A moment later, the short Latina was giving me a hug, whispering, "Thank you!"

Ignoring the spike of lust, I felt from her, I returned the hug, before saying, "I like being hugged by a beautiful woman, but what exactly are you thanking me for?"

She looked up at me with a smile. "The money that magically appeared on the account your foundation has paid into for the orphan ages. The bank contacted my office this morning to tell me, that the amount of money had almost doubled." She tilted her head a bit as she asked, "You didn't know about that?"

"Yes, I had just forgotten it." I admitted, judging the question innocent enough to tell the truth about. "We have been quite busy."

Not only had we been busy with helping the kids, but most of the money we had found in the safe had been funnelled into the account that had been set up for the orphanages, going through several channels before they arrived there to avoid them being traced. Not by me of couse. I knew as much about channelling money as I knew about the inner workings of computers, and all the practical stuff had been taken care of by Sandra Rodriquez, the chief financial officer of Starlight Merchant Group, who had also taken care of Parker's, and not mine, finances.

She nodded. "Yes, Miss Gul told me that a lot of kids have arrived. I hope they're feeling well."

"Better now than before, but there's a long way to go."

"Like always." She replied with a nod and gave me a little squeeze before letting go. She didn't return to her chair, so I sent her a smile. "How're you doing? It's been a while since we talked."

"Well, I'm still busy, but a lot less worried about money than I'm used to." She answered and added, "The money from the foundation helps a lot."

"That's good. You were quite stressed when I met you."

That made Gabrilla chuckle. "Oh, that's the normal state for me. I'm always busy with something."

"Well, there's a difference between stressed and busy." I replied with a smile. "Busy is good, stressed is bad."

"Oh, I know that. I just have a hard time saying no, when various government agencies are standing by the door to my office with an abandoned child that needs a place to stay."

"Really?" I said, "I mean, I thought that you only did financial work for them?"

She shrugged her shoulders lightly. "Well, that is what I do, but I have made a lot of connections and from time to time, they call me when they need some help." She tilted her head a bit. "Which reminds me... What did you do with Nova Salas? She usually takes her time approving anything, but this time it was done in record time."

"Ahh." I chuckled. "I helped her rescue a jaguar and its two cubs."

"Oh... That explains it." She said with a slight nod. "Most of Nova Salas' family works with endangered animals." She thought it over. "Do I want to know the details of the rescue?"

"Not much to tell, to be honest." I answered. "It was a Park Ranger named Ferrandis, who did the actual arrest and found the cubs. We just assisted."

"Well, apparently it was enough, because I've never experienced permits being given that fast. Not even when everything was in the finest order."

"Good. That makes it easier for the boarding school." I replied. "But we were talking about you and how busy you are. Has it been bad lately?"

"Not really." She admitted. "There's remarkable quiet in San Jose at the moment, but it feels more like a quiet before a storm, than a permanent state."

"Oh... like this moment?"

She blushed a little. "What do you mean?"

Leaning forward, I kissed her full lips, gently teasing them with my tongue. For a moment, she stood still, shivering at the feeling, but then her arms went around my neck, crushing her breasts against my chest, as she returned the kiss with a passion, our tongues meeting in a playful duel. My hands ran over her back, caressing her softly in long strokes from her shoulders to her firm round ass.

I don't know what she had expected, but the gentle, slow approach both surprised her and made her even more turned on than she was before. As the kiss intensified, she pressed herself against me, causing her belly to press against the growing erection in my pants.

That caused her to break the kiss and whisper. "God, I want that!"

Moving my hands to her tempting buttocks, I squeezed them gently, causing her to moan. "And I want you, but we might want to move this to the bedroom for more privacy."

She looked around, but seeing nobody, her gaze returned to me. "Lead the way."

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

Going inside and upstairs to the master bedroom didn't take long and as soon as we were there, I dragged her close for another kiss, and grasped her delightful ass, giving the firm buttocks a firm squeeze. Gabriella gasped as her lust flared again and a moment later our tongues began to dart and tease each other slowly.

As we kissed, her hands crept to the buttons of my shirt. One by one they opened to her touch, and soon she was running her fingers over the skin of my chest. I could feel her smiling into our kiss and broke the kiss. "What's with the smile?"

The smile reached her eyes, as she looked up and said, "Oh, Costa Rican men usually have chest hair, but you don't. Do you shave it off?"

Chuckling, I shook my head. "No, I just never had much body hair and the little I have is as blonde as my hair, so it's hard to see."

Her caresses shifted direction as if she were trying to feel if there were any hair under her fingers and then she nodded slightly, more to herself than to what I had said.

Since we weren't kissing anyway, I moved my hands to her blouse and lifted it up. She obediently raised her arms and pulled her head away so I could lift it off entirely. I dropped the blouse on chair and let my hands run over the full length of her bare skin from shoulders down over her arms, ending back on her hips, drawing her closer to me. The glossy fabric of her pink bra was cool against my chest, but the rest of her skin was smooth and warm.

Now it was my turn to smile, causing her to ask. "My turn to ask. What's with the smile?"

I nodded towards her bra. "You do really like pink."

She blinked a few times in surprise and then giggled. "You remembered! I'm impressed."

"Don't be." I said with a smile in return and used my hands on her hips to turn her so her back was against the bed, "It's less a question of me having a good memory, and more about you being hard to forget."

The compliment made her smile and as I watched, she unhooked the bra and slid it off, revealing a pair of good-sized breasts. Considering she had passed her thirties, I had expected them to sag a little, but instead they were standing proudly on her chest, the hard brown nipples pointing slightly upwards.

They were extremely tempting, but I had other plans and gently guided her to sit on the bed, kneeling in front of her as I did so. That placed our heads at the same height and I gave her a kiss before I pushed her back against the bedspread, my hands sliding over her stomach until they encountered the top of her jeans. Instead of a zipper, her jeans had buttons and Gabrialla wetted her lips with the tip of her tongue, as she watched me open them one after one.

The soft skin of her stomach looked inviting, and leaning forward, I kissed it, tongue playing on the skin as I worked my way upwards.

When I reached her breasts, I took my time teasing the underside of each breast, causing her to groan and arch her torso towards me, clearly wanting more.

I happily obliged, moving to a nipple and sucked it into my mouth, my tongue dancing on the hard tip for a moment, before moving my tongue in circles around it. Then I moved to the other nipple, doing the same there.

Gabriella's head fell back against the bed and she moaned, as her arms came up to cradle my head, pressing it against her chest. I did as she wanted, spending a good of time on her breasts, teasing, nibbling, and licking all over them.

To my surprise, her breathing became deeper until she was moaning with each breath, and I could feel her pleasure steadily rising almost in the same way as if I was licking her clitoris. She clearly had very sensitive tits and nipples and while it was a surprise, it was a welcome one, and I took full advantage of it in an attempt to try to make her come from breast-play only.

Carefully closing my teeth around a nipple, I gave it a lashing with my tongue as I gently bit into it.

"Oh God, YES!" She groaned, shivering as pleasure ran through her body.

Smiling around the nipple, slid a hand up to the other breast and groped it for a few heartbeats before my fingers pinched the nipple.

The constant moaning turned into a low shriek, as she exploded in an orgasm, desperately pressing my head against her chest, while her shivering body trashed under me.

Guessing that her nipples were too sensitive to continue, I just relaxed and waited for her orgasm to fade, while absorbing the Vis she had released. It took a while, but finally she relaxed her arms so I could sit back.

I did, but I also took the opportunity to get a grip on her pants, tugging slightly. Gabriella looked at me with a dizzy smile but lifted her hips so I could undress her. To make it easier for her, I quickly pulled both the pants and underwear down her thighs, so she could lower her hips again. Then I slowed down, sliding my hands over her skin, as I slowly worked her pants off.

It took time and when I looked at her, the dizziness was gone from her brown eyes, and she was watching me take her clothes off, a ghost of a smile playing on her lips.

As I placed the pants on a chair, she shook her head. "I know I got extremely sensitive tits, but I can't believe you made me come by just playing with them. Nobody had ever done that before."

"Well, if it's any comfort, I can't remember ever having done that before either." I replied with a grin. "But it was extremely sexy."

Her beautifully sculpted thighs caught my eyes and I ran my hands down them from waist to knees, luxuriating in the feel and sight. Our eyes met and I winked at her. "Let's try another way."

Without waiting for a reply, I dragged her closer to the edge of the bed, lifted a leg and kissed the inside of her thigh, earning a satisfied sigh from her. A lot of kisses later, Gabriella spread her legs, both revealing that she was as clean-shaven as an Egyptian and giving me room to 'work' as I reached her pussy.

Eager to taste her, I ran my tongue from the bottom of her slit all the way to the top. She was soaking wet from the orgasm and tasted delicious, both spicy and fresh. I felt a shiver of pleasure running through me, as licked each lip from top to bottom, from time to time diving in between them as my tongue went on a tasty journey on her. When I reached her clitoris, I gently sucked it into my mouth and flicked my tongue over it, before letting it go and drew circles around it with my tongue.

"Shit, it good." She almost hissed and placed her legs on my shoulder, so she could raise her hips towards me.

Silently agreeing, I began to lick the hood of her clitoris more earnestly, avoiding direct contact but setting up a steady pattern of licks that sent her into a steady series of moans and caused her hips to rock each time my tongue connected with her clitoris.

I took my time licking her, mostly because I was busy trying to unbuckle my pants and push them down, freeing my arching dick from its confinement. However, I could also feel her pleasure rising and her moans became more urgent.

The sense of her moving caused me to look up. Her eyes were shut, and her hands were on her breasts, with a thumb and forefinger around each nipple, pinching and rolling them.

Smiling to myself, I picked up the pace little by little, using my tongue on her clitoris and my fingers on the outside of her pussy, increasing the sensation. The other hand was placed under her firm ass, groping it as I licked and teased her.

I felt her whole body start to quiver and licked faster and harder, this time licking directly up and down her swollen clitoris. With a deep groan, she lifted her hips from the bed, pressing her pussy against my tongue. A few heartbeats later, she came for the second time, whimpering as wild spasms rocked her body.

I licked her until she started to pull away, then I straighten to look at her. The sight of a woman deep in orgasm was always a pretty and erotic sight, and I enjoyed it as I stood, removed my pants and rolled a condom on my stiff dick.

Gabriella had calmed down somewhat when I returned to my position between her legs, but her eyes remained closed, and she seemed oblivious to me as she came down from the heights of pleasure she had climbed.

Using my fingers, I spread her juices over my dick and placed in at the entrance, moving it up and down a few times to spread the juices, before letting it rest there for a moment.

"Do you want to feel it inside you, Gabriella?" I asked in a whisper.

Opening her eyes, she looked at me with a slightly worried expression on her face, but then her eyes drifted down to my condom clad cock and instantly, the worried expression was replaced with a wide smile. "Yes!"

Taking hold of her hips, I pushed forward. As slick as my dick was now, I had expected it to slide right into her dripping pussy, but not only was she surprisingly tight, her inner muscles were almost as strong as Petras, clamping down on my dick as I pressed it into her.

"Oh, God yes!" she groaned, spreading her legs wider, as she wrapped her legs around my hips.

That helped and with a thrust of my hips, I glided full-length inside her in a long, steady stroke.

"Oh, fuck!" she moaned, her head falling back in bliss.

Since her legs were secure around my hips, I moved my hands to her breasts and caressed them as I began to drive myself into her curvy body, gasping as the combination of her tightness and slippery heat worked its magic on me. Gabriella grabbed the edge of the bed with her hands to stay in place, as her legs clamped around my waist and urged me into her with every stroke.

My groping hands closed on her nipples and I immediately felt the effect, as her moans became stronger and deeper, and her inner muscles rippled, caressing my cock from every angle. Even as I shivered from the feeling, I shook my head slightly in disbelief. This woman's nipples were so sensitive that she might as well have two extra clitorises, and I shamelessly used that knowledge, pinching them lightly as I slowly moved in and out of her.

The gentle pace was one of design and purpose. She had already shown me that it didn't take much to make her come, so I wanted to build her up to a big one. Not to mention, that her pussy felt so good around my cock, that I wanted this to last for a while.

So, I fucked her slowly, stopping from time to time to either wait for a few heartbeats before sinking fully inside her or, if I was fully inside her, grind my pubic bone against her clitoris.

A sheen of sweat started to form on her upper-body, glittering in the light from the lamps, and her right hand let go of the bed moving towards her crotch. Letting go of her breast, I caught it before she could reach her goal, making her look at me in disbelief.

I just shook my head in response and used the right hand to grab her left hand as well, before I gave her a series of short, fast thrusts that made her throw her head back against the bed in pleasure again.

We stayed in that position as I slowly, but surely, edged her closer to an orgasm, enjoying the sight of her breasts making waves with every thrust.

I knew she was almost there when she blurted. "Fuck me hard!"

"Play with yourself." I said, as I let go of her hands and went back to caress her jiggling breasts and teasing her nipples.

Her hand had just connected with her clitoris, when I began to pick up the speed, slamming into her with force and speed.

"Oh...oh...fuck! Si!" she cried in response to each thrust, rubbing her clitoris, while I pulled the sensitive nipples.

From that point, it only took a few more thrusts before she exploded like a fireball, her back arching, her head flung back as a wordless cry of joy burst from her throat, and her body shivered and spasmed.

I tried to continue thrusting into her clenching pussy through the orgasm, but she unlocked her feet from my back and pushed me away, before spreading out on the bed, gasping for air.

For a moment I considered hugging her, but with the August heat and the orgasms she had just had, I doubted that she would enjoy it, so instead I walked to the bathroom, soaked a towel in lukewarm water and dried her off from the neck down.

At first there was no reaction, but when I reached her feet, she sighed and opened her eyes to look at me. "You're evil, you know?"

"How so?"

"Well, the sex was fantastic and you're making me feel like a princess." She said as she rolled over on her side. "And just as I think I could get used to this, I remember that you're leaving soon."

"You knew that already." I said with a little smile. "And you told me that you weren't ready for a relationship... Same as I, by the way."

That made her chuckle. "Damn it, Ivan. Can't a girl complain a little?" Then she noticed my hard-on. "You didn't come?"

"No, I was too busy discovering that you were even more passionate in bed than I had guessed."

Gabriella blushed and sat up. "Well, it's you turn now." She padded the bed next to her. "Lie down. I want to ride you."

Having trouble finding anything wrong with that sentence coming from a woman like her, I did as I was told.

Gabriella swung a leg over me and took a hold of my cock, holding it firmly upright. Then she lowered herself until the head was firmly positioned between the lips of her pussy, moving it around in her slick opening and smearing her juices over the condom. When she was satisfied, sent me a smile, and sat down slowly, taking me all the way into the clasping heat of her pussy once more.

It felt just as fantastic as before and my groan made her smile widen for a heartbeat, until she grimaced and moaned at the same time. "Damn, that's a thick cock. You stretch me out, but it feels goooooooood."

As she drew out the last word, her hips started to swivel in tight circles. I felt the head of my cock hitting different parts deep within her pussy and groaned in pleasure again, as I watched her curvy body swirl, rise and fall on top of me. Her full breasts were dancing before my eyes, so I reached out and caressed them again for a while before they moved to her hips and ass, caressing her skin as they slid over it.

With a groan, Gabrielle leaned forward to kiss me, making her nipples graze my chest as our lips met. Then she rested on her elbows and looked intently into my eyes while her hips rose and fell, pulling almost all the way off my cock before slamming back down.

I don't know if it was her dancing that had taught the move, but she was able to hold her upper body still, while her hips pumped her pussy up and down on my dick in a fast and steady pace. She held it for a while, but then kissed me again, changing style and rhythm as she did so. Breaking the kiss, she sat up straight, her hips making lazy circles, occasionally giving my dick a squeeze with her internal muscles. Sweat started to form on her body again, once more glittering in the light from the bedroom lamps, highlighting her body as she did her sensuous dance.

"Gonna come soon?" She asked in a whisper.

Despite the overload of sensation she was giving me, I managed to nod and groan a "Yes."

"Perfect." She moaned. "So am I."

Placing her hands on my chest, she began to pump and grind herself on me in earnest, while I took advantage of the position to caress her breasts and tease her nipples again.

"Yes!" She shrieked and increased the speed. "Come!"

Relaxing myself, I stopped trying to control anything and just went with the flow. A moment later, the flow became a torrent as she came on top of me with a little shriek, her pussy clenching around my dick. It almost made me come then and there, but the orgasm slowed her down, prolonging mine. With one hand I dragged her down to me so we could kiss, while I held her lovely ass still with the other hand. Then I began pumping up into her, hard and fast.

It didn't take more than perhaps ten strokes before I erupted inside her, but the feeling of me coming made her come again, groaning into my mouth as we shared an orgasm along with the kiss.

When the orgasms had faded and our movements had slowed down, Gabriella sighed happily once more and let herself roll off me, to lay beside me on the bed. "Shit, I knew you would be good, but this was epic!"

Since there was only one person that could have told her about me, I turned to look at her. "What else did Rosie tell you?"

She blinked a few times and blushed. "Damn, I fumbled that one, didn't I?"

"That depends on how you look at it." I said lazily. "I always assume that women talk with each other about almost everything, so it's not really a shock to me... but you haven't answered the question."

Reaching out, she gave me a little kiss. "She told me you are a considerate lover, that could make me come with ease." She hesitated, but then added. "... and that unless I was willing to share, I shouldn't expect a relationship. Now that I've seen Esther and Riya, I understand what she meant. They're very beautiful women."

"That they are, but just to set matters straight, I've never taken any of them to bed."

She looked surprised. "You haven't?"

"No." I said firmly.

"Haven't you been tempted to try?"

That made me laugh. "Of course. They're beautiful women, but I have excellent self-control and don't try to bed every beautiful woman that crosses my path." I stretched. "Which reminds me, that you better sleep here instead of driving back to San Jose. I doubt that you'll stay awake all the way if I let you drive."

She nodded with a yawn. "I think you're right."

Dragging her in for a hug and a kiss, I said. "Don't worry. If anybody ask, I'll swear you used a guest room."

She just smiled at that and snuggled up to me, and I held her until she fell asleep. Then I used the opportunity to transfer her loyalty from Parker to me, since I had forgotten that part the last time we talked.

There was a thing, Gabriella had been totally right about and that was me leaving here soon. Vista Verde was done, we had rescued the kids and the initial treatment had gone according to plan, so now they needed peace, quiet and a normal life for some months, before it was time for the second round.

One unexpected bonus with Vista Verde had been Shelly Ocampo. She was still in the early stages of learning to control herself and her mind-shield, but Petra had insisted on having her help with the young girls and had been right about it. Less than two days after Shelly had met the first arrivals, she had walked into my office, insisting on becoming part of the staff. Just to be on the safe side, I had read her mind, but that only showed a genuine concern for the kids, so I had given her some training in keeping her mind-shield up. When I was satisfied that she could do that, I told her to go see Esther and ask her for a job, since she was the one in charge. The next day Shelly was part of the Vista Verde's staff along with two of the security guards for protection.

I yawned and smiled slightly as Gabriella stirred in her sleep for a moment, before going back to snoring. Deciding that following her example was a good idea, I willed myself to sleep.

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