Love, Lust and Conspiracy

by R. H. Politz

  Kari looked at the dress and said, "Oh sweetie, that's just not your color." Then she whispered, "Then I have to turn in the other bottle before they kill someone else!"

  "How about this one," I asked holding up another dress and then whispered, "You can't! It'll make you a target just like that attendant!"

  "But Kimmy, we don't know who did it. It could have been just a random thing!"

  "Oh my, I just don't see anything that strikes me, maybe..., hmm, perhaps a top to go with my blue skirt; Ah-ha, over there!" I found a top that really did look good and whispered, "I'm going to buy this so we'll have a bag when we leave."

  "Very pretty..., it'll set off your blue eyes but I want buy it for you."

  "Oh, thank you," I giggled. "Let's go back to work so I can put it on and tease you."

  We paid the snickering sales clerk, walked out the door and Kari whispered, "Do you really think that murder is connected to those bottles?"

  "Yes, I do! They, whoever they are, have people here watching us and others watching your spa four thousand miles away. Stop right here." We looked in a store window pretending to ogle the clothes and, fifty yards behind, the two men stopped and waited for us to continue. "That's not just some local smuggling ring down there and too many coincidences have occurred to make them just coincidences. This is something pretty big." I pointed to a few items in the window and we continued walking. "And," I whispered, "I don't think we can trust anybody!"

  "Kimmy, you're scaring me. What are we going to do?"

  "First, we're going to get that bottle out of the spa and then play dumb. I'll put it someplace safe in case it's ever needed for evidence and I'm going to make a package of data. It might give us leverage if things get nasty."

  "How do you know all this stuff Kimmy?"

  I laughed. "Books, movies and news articles; I told you I used to read a lot."

  Once the elevator doors closed, I selected a floor part way up. When we stopped, I checked the hallway and held the door open. Kari was quite surprised at that maneuver. "Why didn't you just press the 'Stop' button?"

  "It logs. This doesn't. It's just another stop on a different floor. Now listen carefully. All our phones are tapped and there's probably listening devices or cameras in Euphoria so be careful about anything you say. I'm going to the college to check things out."

  "Oh-ho..., that's really paranoid!"

  "Maybe but I'll let you know in an hour."

  I put on the new top, went to the school and found Valerie in the library. "Ooooo! Hi there sexy," she said when I sat next to her. "Nice top. It really shows your hard nipples. Are you trawling today or just feeling horny?"

  "Oh –– right –– oops," I said fluffing the material a bit. "Val, I'm still working on my thesis about security and I wondered if you would help me a little more."

  She closed her book and grinned. "For you Kimmy, anything! What's up?"

  "Can you get into a building's security system for maintenance logs and repairs?"

  "Piece of cake, what's the address?"

  It took her less than a minute to display what I wanted on her laptop. I kissed her and headed back to Euphoria. When I walked into Kari's office, I rounded the desk, kissed her and whispered, "We're bugged here." Then, I dropped an earring. "Oh nuts, did you see where my earring went?"

  We knelt down to find it and I spotted the microphones under the desk. I pointed them out to Kari with a finger to my lips and handed her a note. Her face went white. She read the note and nodded. With the errant earring in hand, we stood back up. "That's the second time today. I've got to have this fixed before I lose it."

  Five minutes later, she met me in the parking garage. "Now what...? Microphones, men following us and all this sneaking around, this has gotten insane!"

  "I know. Let's just go for a walk in the garden at home. I think we can talk there."

  On the way home, I mentally slapped myself for getting us into this mess in the first place and ran every possible scenario through my head trying to come up with a plan. I had to keep us safe but, in reality, I was more frightened than Kari.

  As we walked through the garden, I explained everything I found out about the FBI agent, the CIA officer, the man who had no past and the people in Brazil. "It's time to open that bottle and see what's in the cap. Did you bring it?" She nodded. "Good. Let's find out what's in it."

  We took the bottle into the garage workshop and Kari jokingly said, "This kind of stuff only happens in the movies. Somebody should write a book about it after it's all over and we're safe."

  "Well, maybe someone will," I said with a smile as I unscrewed the top and examined it. "Hey, this is really heavy and thick for a bottle top and the inside bows down into the bottle. You could hide a golf ball inside it."

  It took close examination with a magnifying glass but when we found the separation between the two parts of the cap and got them apart, our jaws dropped. "Oh-my-God...! Kimmy, are these what I think they are?"

  * 14 * The Dirty Baker's Dozen

  I held one of the stones up to the light. "If these are real, they're worth a lot more than two thousand dollars! That attendant must have been getting paid just for storage and distribution."

  "Look at this one Kimmy. It's huge!

  "Wow, I'm no jeweler but that looks like twenty karats or more and they all look perfect. I can't see any color or spots at all!"

  "What do you think they're worth?"

  "I don't know but when we did an industry analysis in school last year, a good twenty karat stone was worth about ten million."

  Kari gasped. "You mean ––"

  "Yup! Those guys are looking for a bottle of skin cream with millions of dollars worth of diamonds in the cap and they don't care who they have to kill to get it!"

  "And, I would guess, we can't just give them the bottle and end this nightmare, can we?"

  "No! If they know we know about their operation, we become loose ends. Maybe we already are and the only reason we're still alive is because they haven't found these diamonds yet." Kari put her hands over her open mouth and stared at me in fear. "Yeah, I know. We had no idea what coming back to bite us really meant till now."

  "What are we going to do?"

  "You're going to do nothing except play dumb and go about your business. I'm going to take care of these diamonds and talk to someone at school. Go back to the house and I'll catch up in a minute."

  The next day I told Valerie that I had inadvertently uncovered some kind of smuggling operation while doing the research for my thesis and two nasty characters had been following Kari and me ever since. "I need help Val. If I can find out what this smuggling thing is all about, maybe I can figure out a way to get them off my back."

  "Sounds scary Kimmy and I love scary! What can I do to help?"

  "Here's the address where it all started in Brazil and all the names we know so far. If you can dig up some kind of connection or any other information, maybe we can get these guys arrested or something. There's one FBI and one CIA agent involved remember? I can't just go to the cops because I don't know who to trust."

  "Far out...! I'd love to help and so will my friends. This could be really cool!"

  "Valerie, they've already murdered a woman in Brazil. This is no game and I don't want you or your friends to get hurt. Um, what friends...?"

  Oh, we're the ones everybody calls geeks and nerds but I know they'll help."

  "I never called you guys that."

  "I know Kimmy. That's why I love you. We'll all help but, it'll cost ya!"

  "Oh boy..., what..., how much?"

  "Umm..., don't know yet."

  "Okay..., whatever..., looks like you've got me by the..., anyway, talk to your friends and let me know. I'll do whatever I can for you."

  I gave her a hug and headed to the science section to refresh my mind on some chemical compounds I thought might be useful. Being prepared seemed to be the thing to do even if I didn't know what I was preparing for so I dug into the boo
ks and the hours flew by. When I noticed the time, I called Kari and said I'd meet her at home in a couple of hours for dinner.

  At the table, we tried to pretend nothing was wrong. Then, I remembered overlooking something. "I want to try something on the computers later," I whispered. "I can't believe I was so stupid."

  "Stupid..., you...? What do you mean?"

  "I'll show you after we eat."

  "To tell you the truth Kimmy, I don't have much of an appetite. Let's go show me now."

  Alfred came into the dining room as we got up from unfinished dinners. "Was the food not to your liking this evening Madams?"

  "Oh no, it was fine Alfred. I think Kari and I picked up a little stomach bug or something. We're just going to retire for the night."

  "Very good Madams," he said in his stoic manner. "I do hope it's just a temporary malady."

  As we walked into the computer office, I kept muttering, "I can't believe I was so stupid not to check the back door. Imbecile..., what an idiot I am sometimes!" Kari snickered at my comments while I booted up the computers and grabbed a laptop. "Okay, let's go to the bedroom."

  With our usual "Do Not Disturb" sign on closed doors, I began setting up hops. "What does all that weird looking stuff do?"

  "These are 'hops' Kari. I'm going to see if I can activate the back door I set up in Brazil. I had forgotten all about it. Two of these hops go through special servers so no one can trace my connection back here."

  "I have no idea what all that means but if you ––" Suddenly, videos of the spa in Brazil popped up on the screen. "How did you...? I though they shut your cameras off and they didn't work anymore!"

  "They did exactly what I thought they'd do, disabled the transmitter in the data room but I had also run another cable outside as a backup. That's what I meant about me being such an idiot. I never thought to check it!"

  I logged out and shut the computer off. "Aren't you going to look at the videos?"

  "Not from here. I don't want to take any chances. I'll do it from a public computer in one of those internet cafes. It'll be safer."

  Later, we collapsed in bed, exhausted. "Wow, I'm tired," I sighed, "sorry, no sex tonight."

  "Me too, just hold me." I put my arms around her and cuddled. "Yeah, like that. Umm, you feel good..., so soft and smooth.................... Kimmy...?"

  "Yeah...?"

  She squirmed against me. "Maybe just a quick ––"

  "Okay, I can't sleep yet either."

  But that night, there were no games, fantasies or toys. It was soft, gentle and lovingly sensual sex before we fell asleep cuddled in each other's arms.

  "Kari, look at this," I said the next morning at breakfast. "Look! Euphoria's been destroyed!" The Brazilian news article said that seven people were killed during a robbery and the building was completely destroyed by fire.

  "Oh my God, those poor people; I have to call down there to see what I can do!"

  "No! Don't do that! This is just local news so wait until someone notifies you about it and then you can call from your office. I'll go to the college and see what Valerie has so far."

  During our drive to the city, I kept looking in the mirrors. "That black car that's always parked nearby is following us today." Kari glanced it the mirror and gasped. "Just drive like you always do. We don't know anything's going on..., remember?"

  "I don't know how you can be so calm. I'm scared out of my mind!"

  "So am I but let's not lose it now."

  "What's that black paddle looking thing you brought this morning?"

  "It's a signal detector. I got it from Valerie. It detects hidden bugs."

  "Bugs...?"

  "Microphones that transmit a signal."

  "Oh! Those kinds of bugs!"

  I jumped out at the college and Kari went on to Euphoria with the black car not too far behind. Apparently, I wasn't important to them. "Hi Val," I said when we met in the hallway. "Find anything?"

  "Kimmy...!" She pulled me against the wall and whispered, "That address you gave me got blown up last night..., and people were killed!"

  "Yeah, I know. I saw it too."

  "Meet me after class in the student union."

  "Okay, see you in an hour."

  Later, Valerie grabbed my arm as soon as I walked through the door. "Kimmy, why didn't you tell me you're a superstar singer?"

  "Oh! I just never thought..., um."

  "Yeah –– Right! Half of South America knows you and we don't even get a peep? That's not fair Kimmy. You go to school here. We should know about our genius superstar classmate!"

  "Um, Val..., about the other thing?"

  "Oh yeah, here, take a look at this DVD we made. You're really into some heavy shit. Those guys are in half a dozen countries and they smuggle everything like drugs, diamonds and guns."

  "Damn, I was afraid of that. Are they all one organization?"

  "No, this thing involves five groups. Why?"

  "Just an idea; I don't know how to fight people like that but if we could get them to fight each other...."

  "Oh excellent, brilliant, a psycho-war...! I'll tell my friends at our meeting. They'll love it! They're really getting into this thing."

  "Val, how did you guys find all this out in one day and the cops still don't know about such a big smuggling operation?"

  "That's just it! They do know. Cops and government people are in on it. It's a conspiracy Kimmy. The good guys are really the bad guys."

  "Oh great! Is there any more bad news?"

  "Just play the DVD in private. You'll see."

  Late that afternoon I walked to Euphoria and went into the data center to play the CD. Valerie and her friends had made a video segment joking about a government plot to control regional wars around the world and then, the data came up. When I saw the money transfers, bank accounts, shipping logs and the names of officials from half a dozen countries, I sighed and mumbled, "This is unbelievable!"

  "What's unbelievable," asked Kari when she walked in and heard my gloomy comment.

  I leaned back in the chair and smiled. "Hi beautiful...! Can I have a kiss?" When she leaned down to kiss me, I hugged her and whispered, "Guess what? We're in deep do-do. Take a look at this but don't say anything out loud. Whisper it in my ear as if you're seducing me."

  When she looked at the names and multi-million dollar transfers, she gasped. "Those are huge amounts of money. And what are those weird names..., groups?"

  "Those, I hope, are the way out of this mess. Each group has its own little secret army and they don't trust each other very much so, if we can convince the Brazilian gang that this Russian gang screwed them out of their diamonds, they'll go after them instead of us. Then all we have to worry about is our own CIA!"

  She giggled, nibbled my neck and whispered, "How are you ever going to do that?"

  "I'm not. Valerie and her friends are. They're working on it right now"

  "Kimmy, all I want to do is run Euphoria and spend the rest of my life with you. And I want the rest of my life to be more than a few days so, just tell me what to do."

  "Like I said before, just live normally but watch your back. If we make any radical changes now, those guys will see it."

  "I'm scared but, okay, I'll try. I'm not sure I can hide it like you can."

  "Oh..., my sweet Kari," I said while hugging her, "we will get through this thing..., together. And, by the way, your acting is really good. It's all I can do to keep from raping you right now!"

  As I walked into school the next morning, Valerie caught me and said, "We've got an idea but we need your help to make it work."

  After our last class, she and I went to a bar in the village where she introduced me to twelve of her friends. "We're "The Dirty Baker's Dozen'," she said, "and here's our idea."

  They had hacked into traffic cameras, security cameras, shipper's systems and government communications and found all the leaders and their lieutenants. One of her friends was working on a doctorate in facial recognition
software and another in law enforcement security software but each one of them had some specialty that contributed to their "project" and, working together, they found enough evidence to put over a hundred people away. But that was not the plan.

  "If we try to have them arrested," Valerie explained, "you and your girlfriend won't last a week and most of them would probably get off anyway. Your idea is better!"

  "You mean have them fight each other?"

  "Exactly, it's perfect! These guys don't care about cops and courts because they own them so a psycho-war is the only thing that'll work!"

  "Psycho-war..., do you have any idea how to make that happen?"

  "Ha! Do we have any idea guys?" Her friends raised their fists and cheered as if they were at a football game. "Kimmy, the Mexican mafia has been trying to move into South America for years and they hate the Brazilian guys. It's a natural! We've already found the shipment of skin cream...? Who would've thought drugs would be dissolved in something like that? Anyway, we diverted the whole pallet from Nigeria to Mexico. When the Brazilians find out, they'll think the Mexican guys did it and go after them."

  "Cool..., I was thinking of the Russians but, drugs dissolved in skin cream..., that's what they're smuggling...?" I didn't want them to know I knew about the diamonds or the cream.

  "The bastards are moving everything that'll buy weapons and stir up a war. Guns are expensive! Anyway, we've got a plan for the Russians too but that's later. Once we have the Brazil people attacking the Mexicans, then, we can go after the rest of those creeps."

  "What about the CIA?"

  "That's tougher. They're better at hiding so we're still working on them."

  "I can't believe how much you guys did in one day! You're all brilliant!"

  "Almost as smart as you Kimmy; I checked your grades. Four point O..., and..., you'll finish a four year college in what, two and a half years? Oh, by the way," Valerie put her hand to my ear and whispered, "I also found your freshman year records..., Kim." I started to blush. "Don't worry! No one knows. And, I know what you went through. My name was just Val until I was fifteen."

  We looked at each other and laughed. "Your secret's safe with me, Val."