Thirty Four Minutes DEAD

by Kaye, Steve Hammond

  Gregory Vain had not anticipated that the taste of Levene's vaginal juices would be radically different from the other women he had performed cunnilingus upon, but as he flicked the cherry around his mouth he did notice a sweetness of flavour that he had not encountered before. Her taste did contain the usual musk-like element, but mixed with this was something quite distinct. After seven or eight seconds, the presence of Levene was gone but her taste would live for a long time in his mind.

  "What is your verdict, Greg?”

  "If I was sampling a good wine, Marcia and you here, by extension, I would definitely allow the waiter to fill my cup. Do you want to carry on in my Connoisseur suite?”

  "No Greg, not yet. Don't get me wrong, I've fantasised about you since our first meeting, masturbating to my mental images of you on occasions, and project restrictions have left me feeling desperate to consummate our relationship. In Chicago my sexual urges for you were almost racing out of control, but I had to keep the lid on them and I started to get sexually high on our mutual state of institutional bondage - Christ, I even came when we kissed at the end of one of the lower thoroughfares in that Designation! I want to keep the repression in place until after our global MC revelation. After we have spoken to the world about our discovery, internal social restrictions will be reduced to a fair level and then if we get caught fucking each other senseless Leif and Fray are going to let our indiscretion pass. The Stowles affair hit Leif hard you know, and I was amazed when we were given the semi-freedom we are currently enjoying! If he found out about us now, he'd blow big time. We would definitely be separated in terms of project operations and our every move would be monitored constantly - we wouldn't even be able to visit the bathroom without a damned surveillance camera watching us!”

  "I guess you're right, Marcia, but I can't help thinking that it might be worth running the risk all the same. My suite is around the elbow of the corridor the front line crew have been located in, and it is subsequently relatively private".

  "You're forgetting that Ko-Chai is your closest neighbour, Greg. He watches us like a fucking hawk, seeing you like a wayward son and me an intellectual harlot! If he did happen to suspect I was alone with you in your room, I'm damned sure that the guy would find an excuse to interrupt us".

  "I'm sure Mishimo doesn't think that of you, Marcia. He's often said how important it is to have bright women like yourself in the MC project ranks".

  "Maybe so, but the guy bugs me with his preaching on occasions. He thinks I'm some kind of vamp that wants to suck you in and spit out the bones!”

  Levene placed her hand of Vain's arm and assured him that the wait would just make things better in the long term.

  "Think of the waiting as a kind of build up - a pain to gain factor that will make you cum like a river when the duration is run".

  Vain eventually saw the sense in Levene's line of argument, and the pair decided to have a couple of Budweisers before they would have to leave to fulfil the curfew deadline. As they drifted into a conversation about the eighties spirit that hung over Alvettis, a woman approached their alcove. Her line of inquiry was direct from the outset.

  "Marcia, Gregory, at last we meet! I'm Vicky Lassiter from the 'Washington Vanguard' and I want to ask you about the MC extension testing that is going to take place at the Washington Peace Conference".

  Although naturally taken aback by the woman's project knowledge, Levene and Vain adopted the much-rehearsed policy of ignorance, which had to be adopted by MC project staff in the event of such a security breach. Vain took the response lead on this occasion.

  "I'm afraid you've made a mistake, Miss Lassiter. My name is Paul Hedges and this is my wife Sonia. I really don't understand your request; we work in Commodities. I'm sorry we can't help you, but we're not the people you are looking for, and if you don't mind we would prefer you to let us enjoy our time together without any further interruptions - we get precious little time to call our own".

  "Nice try, Mr Vain, but please give me a bit more credit for my researching abilities. The Conference Gregory - what are you going to try to prove in MC terms?”

  "Look, we haven't got a clue about your damned Conference or the MC thing you keep on about. If you persist in bothering us, I'll have to ask the door staff to remove you".

  Turning to Levene, Miss Lassiter continued to try to force a weakness from her quarry.

  "Do you speak Ms Levene, or is Gregory Vain your mouthpiece?”

  Marcia's reply was instantaneous and it kept up Vain's charade to an excellent level.

  Paul and I are equals Miss Lassiter, but our relationship is none of your damned business. You see that stained glass door over there? It's beautiful isn't it? Why don't you use it - good bye".

  The woman was made of an indefatigable spirit though, and she persisted with another avenue of attack.

  "Oh leave it out, folks. Are you saying you haven't heard of Fray, Venison and the Chicago fire? Are you going to remain mute about Stowles, FBI infighting and Braddock?”

  Vain decided to show a vague familiarity with one of the names to see if the woman would reveal any more MC project information. This was phase two of the method of counteracting leaked project knowledge. He had to stall the woman, so that he could assess the potential damage put in motion by the project traitor. This method of counteracting was only known to a dozen high ranking project staff, and thus if she knew it's stages, she would know that 'in-situ execution' or incarceration were the final conclusion! If this was known, the leak would have emanated from one of the highest project sources and all hell would break loose in terms of internal project security organisation.

  "I do know a David Braddock from our South African imports Division. Is that the guy you mean?”

  Miss Lassiter started to lose her cool - exactly as Vain and Levene hoped she would.

  "Do I look like I left my brain on the stairwell Mr Vain, or does your 'never surrender' attitude emanate back to your 'stiff upper lip' English patrimony. Come on folks - lighten up. We all know that I know the inner workings of the MC project and a fair proportion of the events concerning operations. My unit can break you now, if you aren't co-operative. The Washington Peace Conference will never happen if we reveal all we know about your project in tomorrow morning's edition. You see, Gregory, you can't play games with the media - did you really think your project could hide from us? If I don't get a story, the whole fucking shebang will be on the 'Net' within minutes. If you help us, we'll even break the story after the event, so your best laid plans can stay intact".

  As Lassiter spoke, Vain surveyed her intently. She was exceptionally bold in her blackmail, and her face retained a confidence that showed no element of fear or trepidation at all. Vain could thus deduct that the woman was either ignorant of the three stage procedure or had a kamikaze journalistic streak. He concluded the former deduction was the correct one, and he felt pleased that no high-level leak had been made. Neither Vain nor Levene were prepared for the next development that took place in Alvettis.

  Mr Fray, Jess Wheeler and two security personnel entered the alcove. Fray turned to Miss Lassiter without looking at the two MC project staff.

  "How pleasant it is to meet you, Miss Lassiter - my name is Fray. I think we may well have a story for you here. After all you already know a great deal about our project, don't you? Well, I have been authorised to detail our extension work plans to your paper but directly to the Editor you understand, and so if you would be so good as to divulge their web site identity or phone number, I can deal with the matter right now".

  Lassiter started to look pale. Her Unit had moved on the MC project leak without notifying their Editor or any of their fellow newsprint colleges, just as Fray had envisaged. She had wanted her seven strong team to achieve the ultimate scoop and sell the story down the line to the highest journalistic bidder. Her greed had created a cocoon of isolation for her Unit and this played into the hands of the MC security ranks. It was going to be far easier to d
eal with one discreet separatist group than a holistic Institution. Lassiter answered Mr Fray with a tone that now had trepidation mark its delivery.

  "That won't do, Mr Fray. I think he is absent right now, but he's due back tomorrow. My six Unit staff can take your story though - they will all be in attendance in our office corral right now. I think they..."

  Fray interrupted.

  "Too right they'll be in attendance ready to blow MC project details all over the Net, if you don't get your fucking story - isn't that what you said? Our surveillance guys sussed you weeks back but you just clarified our one area of uncertainty. You didn't want to share 'Pandora's box' did you? Your greed will build your fucking coffin now!

  Lassiter felt that she still had an ace to play.

  "You're wrong, Fray. If my crew doubt my safety for an instant, all your details will be scattered through the Net. It’s our survival card - harm us and you go down too!”

  Fray put his hands together in mock applause and a sardonic smile appeared on his face.

  "You stupid bitch. Hold the CIA and FBI to ransom would you? Jess - do it".

  Wheeler broke Lassiter's neck before she even registered his hand descending towards her. The woman slumped forward onto the table but such was the controlled ferocity of the blow, no heads turned toward their alcove. Jess Wheeler had dealt a death blow like others would swat a fly. Fray turned to Vain and Levene, apologising for interrupting their evening with a fake sincerity that was easy to determine.

  "Marcia, Gregory, what can I say? Good evening, young lovers, wherever you are. That would have been a better greeting wouldn't it, but we had a killing to attend to and Jess had to work around you - I hope we didn't disturb you too much!”

  After the white haired security chief had aired his sarcasm, his mood darkened.

  "Alvettis is going to close early tonight. My guys will take the corpse away and the place will be corralled just like standard CIA practice. The mandatory forensic crew will be brought in - you know the white line ensemble.

  “Some of the staff and a few customers will be questioned by our back line personnel and I guess that just leaves you guys, doesn't it? Well, someone's been dying to congratulate you on flushing out the press and preserving MC project secrecy in the process. I'm sure this person isn't that bothered about the odd transgression of security stipulations. I'm sure they think that intimate liaisons in wine bar alcoves don't represent any threat to project security and I'm positive that having a long frenchie across a table wouldn't attract attention! As for the other stuff - well what do you fucking think? Both of you are to wait here".

  As the security squad took their leave, Wheeler couldn’t resist a comment to Vain. He had disliked the Front line team leader ever since Vain had questioned the necessity of Wheeler's actions in the Chicago gunfight.

  "Try using a chilli pepper next time Gregory - makes a girl squeal like a pig!”

  Levene and Vain were rendered silent for a while after the security staff left to close down Alvettis. Whilst they felt both embarrassment and anger over the surveillance of their intimacy, the overriding mutual feeling was one of fear. As Leif Denison approached the alcove, they realised that their relationship was established top-down! When he spoke, his eyes were less cold than Frays but his initial words were just as hard hitting.

  "Thank you Marcia, thank you Gregory. I mean that. Your collective movements were so easy to predict in Washington - it was just a matter of researching Marcia's favourite hang outs. We hooked four venues with acoustic isolator capabilities that separate out conversations to micro frequency signals. You were the best form of bait we could possibly have in terms of flushing out the Vanguard threat, both of you being young, good looking and bloody naive in your movements around Washington!

  We knew you wouldn't be able to keep things low-key if we gave you free time possibilities, and we were reasonably confident that Lassiter would follow your movements. I was impressed with your operation of the three stages surrounding MC project detection and before your castigation I suppose you deserve some credit for this observance".

  Denison drew his breath audibly before continuing.

  "I guess you know you're a pair of fools, don't you? I mean let us examine things here folks. Your attempts to hide your attraction for each other have hardly been convincing, have they? You buddy-up in both UK and American Designation sites, you 'eye to eye' each other at meetings and you faun around Washington like a couple of teenagers awaiting their first heavy petting session! Back in the cold war era, the pair of you would have been a fucking nightmare as far as security is concerned, and I guess we are lucky that some of the current eastern heavyweights haven't locked into the MC project scent yet. If the latter had happened you would have been expendable Marcia, if you get my drift! After Washington, we will break our discovery to the world, if what we envisage in the Peace Conference transpires - that some delegates speak peace with a hidden agenda of take-over. So far we've been very lenient with the pair of you. You've been monitored more closely since Chicago because your attraction towards each other seemed to be escalating. Ironically this factor probably did help us during the fire, because in the mayhem of the windy city crisis you both helped protect each other as well as your quest for self survival, and naturally we were extremely pleased to get two of our brightest project personnel out of that shithole alive. Having said this, you must realise that neither of you are infallible, and as I've said before the MC project is the real power - bigger than anyone. It turns all we know upside down – Christ, our baby is a new fucking religion!

  “A project controller with a more irascible edge to them would have wiped one of you as a lesson to the others, maybe both of you for that matter. You two are damned fortunate that I didn't listen to advice along this line from some of my more - shall we say impetuous colleagues!

  “Until we have broken our findings to the world, I want the pair of you to cease all fucking contact with each other, barring work commitments. If you trivialise our collective team spirit with your mating game prerogatives, I'll pull the fucking trigger myself! This time your security risk status did us a favour but if that hadn't been the case, Jess might have been breaking someone else's neck. You've been given a reprieve this time. Just make sure your future behaviour doesn't load my gun. Come on Mr Vain, you're going back to The Connoisseur. Marcia is going to finish her drink here and reflect on how fucking lucky the pair of you have been not to be going out of here with Lassiter!”

  Leif Denison had provided a rude awakening for Vain and Levene, shattering their illusion of safety as far as their relationship was concerned. Denison had clearly established the threat that his two front-liners had been to project security, and his words had their desired intent as far as the installation of collective fear was concerned. As Vain journeyed back to The Connoisseur in the rear of the project leader's limousine, he had time to mull over the events of Alvettis. He regretted the naiveté that both he and Marcia had shown with regard to the power of the security embryo that hung over the MC project, as it seemed as though surveillance had followed the couple in their most intimate encounters. He thus realised that when the pair had thought their privacy was unchecked, they had a camera or a recording device chart the progress of their affair. This factor annoyed Vain, rather than make him feel guilty for his security indiscretions and it put the MC project rein handlers in a new voyeuristic light in his mind.

  After his anger subsided, fear returned as he tried to recount what he had said to Levene about project developments and the leading figures that orchestrated them. He felt reasonably certain that unlike Levene, he had directly criticised Denison, Fray and Wheeler on occasions when the pair had met, and he now wondered what this power triad would have heard him say about them. Alvettis had been the most impressive security decision as far as Vain was concerned and he had to admire the perception with which the security section had anticipated Levene's choice of location in her Washington free time.

 
; As the car approached the driveway to the hotel base, Vain thought about what Denison hadn't revealed. He tried to determine who had leaked project information to The Vanguard, and he wondered what fate awaited Lassiter's 'in the project know' colleagues. These were answers, which Vain would never receive - his security misdemeanour with Levene ensured that.

  When Denison's party entered The Connoisseur, David Tavini greeted Vain in a show of typical exuberance.

  "Yo Greg, good to see you, buddy. You gotta skip the cabaret pal, because I gotta take you through the conference set up details. Come on we'll take the elevator to the project rooms - we can talk there".

  Tavini had preferred to stay in touch with the organisational details surrounding the Peace conference, during the free time period, as had Ko-Chai who met them when they disembarked from the elevator. Upon greeting Vain, Mishimo echoed Tavini's buoyant enthusiasm. He even managed to take the verbal lead away from Tavini for once, when they entered Vain's suite.

  "The set up makes for quite a show, my bossman! With speaking delegates, front line aides, back line interpreters and the plethora of body guards, over two thousand people have to be accounted for. This figure doesn't include our own MC project staff or conventional security forces and so you can envisage the magnitude and sheer volume of the event".

  Tavini interjected.

  "We've finalised the ten first world nations who are going to put their provision cases forward Greg. The ten are going to be the first nations to take the global media entourage through the cradle support system and their vault extensions are going to be recorded during their twenty minute verbal introductions. As the delegates speak, we'll access their thoughts buddy and when Leif gives us the nod halfway through presentation ten, our findings will be illuminated on the huge laser screens directly behind each speaker’s podium. Obviously we're going to need you to check the sensory positioning of the padding that is encased in the headgear that the speakers will wear. We've placed the line adjacent to the microphone wires that link the speakers to their respective interpretation crews. Our reception devices are out of sight in a section on the third floor overlooking the arena - we've got space either side Greg, keeping our security without looking too fucking suspicious in the process. The other third floor sections are all media annexes you see and we're hiding amongst them!”