The Wrong Akiko
By Aerosol Kid :: aerosol_kid@hotmail.com
Visit me at http://www.asstr.org/~AK_Home
The people and events in this come from my brain, not the real
world. Regardless of what that tells you about my brain, it means
that I'm not writing about you, your mom, your friends, or your friends'
friends. So you can't sue me. Neener neener.
If you're underage in your territory (and you know what I mean), then
read something else.
Note: This is part 5 of secret agent Akiko Masumi's second serial. It
follows "Akiko in the Afternoon," "The Trouble with Akiko," "Love with
the Proper Akiko," and "An Akiko to Remember." You don't need to read
the first series to follow the second, but it helps. I'll post the
sixth and final part very soon.
(c) 2001 Aerosol Kid
___________________________
Make no mistake; this girl's been all over the place during her life as
a secret agent. It was Kali's intent to keep our location from us at
all times. Well, maybe there were no windows or watches on our flight,
but I put our travel time at about four hours. It was still night
where we touched down, and as I stepped out of the jet and smelled the
chilly air, I could just make out the terrain - barren, distinctive.
The airfield was tiny, out of the way, but I had a pretty good idea
where we ended up. Over by the modest control tower, a lovely redhead
waited next to a black Range Rover. She waved us over and hustled us
into her ride. Nina looked sleepy and a little depressed, so I decided
to cheer her up by showing off. As we sped away, I leaned into her and
whispered, "Hey, I'm pretty sure we're in southern Australia."
She yawned and looked out the window. "Outside Sydney, actually. I
grew up around here."
"Okay, yeah. That was going to be my next guess." I mussed up her
hair, gave the back of her neck a squeeze. Funny, I wasn't acting very
slave-like. "What did you do for a living here, before?"
Still staring out the window, she inched closer to me until she was
practically in my lap. "Don't remember."
Eventually we rolled up to a hyper-modern office complex in some isolated
corporate sector. It seemed innocent enough at first glance, but I
could tell it was ridiculously fortified. Nothing got in or out of
here undetected. I spied some determined looking ladies,
dressed in black and moving with purpose, and knew Kali must be
nearby.
"Out you go, dears," drawled our driver, so we grudgingly scooted out
of the warm Range Rover and grabbed our luggage from the back. Barely
a beat went by before this hot Korean in a black turtleneck tank
swooped in and grabbed our bags. Without introducing herself, she
smiled brightly and waved for us to follow. We rushed to keep up with
her as she sped toward the lobby of the main building. While we worked
our way through a revolving door, she switched both bags to one hand
and thumbed a tiny cell phone with the other.
"Ms. Masumi is here," she announced to the phone, as she fanned us
toward an elevator. The lobby was deserted. "And her handmaid. Yes.
Yes, milady." We crowded into the elevator, still shivering from the
cold outside. Since we'd entered at the ground floor of a ten-story
building, I expected to go up. That's understandable, no? Instead,
we went plunging downward, causing Nina to gasp while my stomach leapt
into my throat. Our efficient guide took that moment to offer her hand
to me. *"Watashi wa Park Jung Hyun, desu,"* she said with a wink.
Then she went back to chatting on her phone while I tried not to yack.
"The fifth suite, then? Of course. I'll tell her you expect her in
the morning." Abruptly, we slowed and my ears popped. Nina slipped
her fingers around mine as the doors slid open.
We stepped into a reception hall, which was eerily lit in green. A
handful of serious looking chicks with assault rifles gave us the
once over. I noted several automated sensor arrays checking us out,
too. Nina - who'd spent God knows how long on an island full of drunk,
half-naked - was intimidated, and the schoolgirl getup I had her
wearing made her look very out of place here, but I put out a certain
vibe and the guards were gentle with her.
Once through the checkpoint, Jung Hyun led us through several narrow,
twisting corridors. It was definitely an underground bunker; all
windowless, tight spaces. Nevertheless it was *posh.* I wanted a
business card from the interior designer, because I felt like I was at
a five star resort on the moon, or some such. A few confusing
intersections had me thoroughly lost, then Jung Hyun stopped at a
smooth teak door and held up her hand. "This is the apartment for you
and your handmaid, Masumi-san. I hope that you'll remember how to get
back to the elevator." She regarded me with twinkling eyes, as she
slipped an electronic key card into the lock. "I'm kidding, of course.
When you wake up in the morning, you'll find you know your way around."
I was a little tired for this kind of teasing, especially from someone
*so very LA,* even if she was mega foxy. But Nina chose that moment to
warm up to her. "Thank you, milady!" she curtsied. I trudged inside,
hoping to be naked and asleep inside of five minutes, but Jung Hyun
wasn't quite finished with us.
"I'm sure that your handmaid can take it from here, milady, but please
report to the west conference hall at 0930 tomorrow. As I mentioned,
you'll know exactly where that is when you wake up." She set down our
luggage and bowed.
*"Kamsa hamnida,"* I thanked. Nina dragged our stuff over the threshold,
and I flipped on the lights. This new pad wasn't as big as my bungalow
(which had been mine for all of two days), but it was tight. Lots of
leather furniture, halogen lighting and wood.
Nina looked like she could fall asleep standing up, but she insisted
on helping me get ready for bed. "Jeez, baby," I protested, grabbing
her hands when she tried to undress me. "I'm fine. Hop in the sack
and I'll be there in five minutes." Reluctantly, she trudged off to
brush her teeth.
We were too tired for sex, and that's saying a lot. Nina snuggled up
to me and instantly crashed. I lay awake for a bit, considering my
situation. At this point, it was safe to say Kali's programming was
wearing off, just like the Indigo conditioning had before that. My
secret agent instincts were slowly coming back to me, but I didn't
know how. People kept trying to pull me down into trances, but I
kept popping back up like a cork in water.
The more I thought about it, the more this smelled like classic espionage.
I was at the heart of Kali's operation, with great cover (since everyone
believed I was tres brainwashed). I remembered my second day at Marlin,
when A.D. Takizawa had crabbed about the lack of progress on this case.
Well, maybe he hadn't been so flustered after all. Whatever the fuck
was going on, I had to find a way to discreetly contact Marlin, if I
knew what was good for me.
And I wasn't in this alone. Best I could tell, Miyu and Akemi were in
lots of trouble back on that island. They'd made a move and got caught
while I was still high on Intransic and girls. My first instinct was to
bug out of this compound and help them, but I had Nina to worry about,
too. She was just a kid, and we had a bond. No way was I going to leave
her to get swallowed up in this nasty slave den. Sure, Kali had probably
abducted a few thousand - all brainwashed and in need of rescuing -
but Nina was real to me. I played with her hair as I wondered what to
do, and faded into sleep.
***
A pleasant chime resounded in stereo, and as I blinked against lights
that automatically sparked to life, I caught sight of something round
right over my head. I swear I saw a violet light fade as the thing
retreated into the headboard of our bed. Next to me, Nina murmured,
"I understand."
I rubbed my eyes and yawned. "What did you say?"
"Huh?" I loved her cluelessness during her first few minutes awake.
And her natural hazel eyes, before the blue contacts went in.
"'I understand.' What was that about?"
"I dunno. A dream?" She rose up on one elbow and looked at the bedside
clock. "Damn and blast!"
"What's the problem?"
"You've got to see Kali in twenty minutes. We don't have time to do
it," she sulked.
I tickled the inside of her tan bicep. "Oh, I'll get you, my pretty.
Just try to stay out of trouble while I'm gone, OK?"
***
Damned if Jung Hyun wasn't right. When I left the apartment, I knew
exactly where to go for my meeting. That meant someone had fooled
around with my brain during the night. I wondered what else they might
have tinkered with, as I approached the entrance to the conference room.
Unseen machines scoped me, and the main doors slid open. Inside was a
large hall, dimly lit with a huge table at the center. Five women were
seated with their backs to me. Kali faced them on the other side of the
table. One seat remained vacant at the right side, so I headed for it,
the sound of my boots echoing loudly.
"Ah, Akiko!" Kali announced, causing heads to swivel toward me. "You're
precisely on time, my lovely. Please have a seat." She indicated the
vacant chair with a laser pointer. Curiously, she had chosen to wear
a slinky gray dress to this meeting. Her bizarre, elliptical braids
were gone, and her ebony hair cascaded down her bare back. Va va voom!
Her ferocious conditioning may have lost its grip on me, but certain
things lingered, allowing me to fake it. Like the fact that I still
found her beauty most beguiling. I curtsied and sat, giving her my
best adoring smile. She seemed to approve. "I trust your flight was
pleasant and you rested well?"
"Yes milady," I assured. "I'm ready for duty."
Kali eyed my black fatigues, tank top and combat boots. "I don't doubt
it." She turned to address the ladies to my left. "This is Agent
Masumi, girls. A former operative of Nepthys, the Global Intelligence
Agency, and Marlin. She has background in biochemistry, demolitions,
several schools of martial arts, and she's fluent in four languages."
I could tell from the looks I got that none of them were impressed with
my résumé. "And most interesting to me, she's had extensive exposure
to mind control in the field. That vulnerability, combined with her
formidable skill set, makes her the perfect acquisition for our cause."
Seriously, I was getting some dirty looks from these chicks! I got the
feeling they were partners with Kali, not hypnotized minions. And they
had major problems with yours truly.
Kali chose to ignore the hostile vibe. "Akiko, these are my advisors.
Besides me, these are the only people that you must answer to in my
organization. You are now in charge of my personal security detail.
That means you're responsible for my safety, wherever I may be. But
since your talents are so diverse, I'll have regular work for you in the
field."
One of the advisors muttered something under her breath. I didn't catch it.
Kali seemed to delight in the comment. "Yes, Madam Nah. Akiko *is* a
mindfucked slave. She will replace Madam Nakai, who was a most *un*-mindfucked
individual serving on this board." Kali started to pace the room. "As you well
know, Madam Nakai's incompetence led to the attempt on my life last month." She
pushed a switch, and a photo materialized in the air over the table. It showed
one of Kali's guards pushing her to the ground, next to a helicopter. The guard
had taken a bullet in the chest. "For security, I require someone whose loyalty
is unquestioned. Akiko here has no other loyalties, because she's been broken.
I ought to know, I broke her." She shared a look with me. "And now Madam Nakai
is in a more appropriate position." The next photo was of a fetching Japanese
lady in a bikini, strapped to a table, drooling profusely. Clearly this was
a message to the remaining advisors.
"We don't disagree with your decision in this matter," soothed another one of
the advisors. "We simply have reservations about this compromised spy you've
put on the board. If she turns out to be what you say she is, we'll have no
objections. Now can we move on?"
Kali regarded each of the ladies in turn, feeling out the vibe. It was obvious
she was in charge, but she didn't want to alienate any of them. I sensed a very
fucked up symbiotic relationship here. She flashed them a sly smile and walked
around the table toward me. "Of course. But first, a little background for my
new deputy." She gave my shoulder a squeeze. "Welcome aboard, Akiko."
"Thank you, milady." I tried not to sound too chipper, lest I draw the ire of
the steely Advisor bitches.
I'd been in this business long enough to know Kali was about to bust out with
her Evil Genius Plan for World Domination. And I wasn't disappointed. "I was
born and raised in Singapore," she began, "so I know a thing or two about
ordered societies." I didn't have to look; I could *feel* her Advisors rolling
their eyes. "After earning degrees in Behavioral Psychology and Biochemistry,
the government put me to work on mind control technologies. It didn't take me
long to surpass the work of my colleagues. Soon I realized the greater
potential of my discoveries, so I stole them and went underground. There, I
aligned myself with certain unsavory characters."
A series of familiar mugshots flashed by in the air - I'd gone after some of
these assholes in my Nepthys days. "In time I was able to secure funding and
construct what would become my core technology. I used my inventions, first in
experiments with attractive associates," she smiled coyly, "then to ensnare
useful people and turn them into loyal subjects. By this time, I could afford
to be more selective in my choice of allies." She winked at the ladies to my
left, but I could tell they weren't having it.
A map of the Pacific Rim appeared next. "We created counterfeit operations,
weapon stockpiles, facilities to make our proprietary control devices and
drugs..." Dots appeared all over Asia. "At a certain point, I realized I had
no need for in my organization." A beat passed, legs were crossed and
fidgeting occurred. Kali stuck her laser pointer in the Pacific Ocean on the
map. "Which leads us to our training facility, where you spent last week."
Another dot appeared on the map: some teensy island near Palau. Now I knew
where Miyu and Akemi were!
Kali's spiel arrived at its "bwa-ha-haaa!" moment. "Now I've got legions of
dedicated girls, trained in weaponry, crypto, counterfeiting, defense. And
moles, carefully placed in government agencies. Next month, I'll start a chain
of events that will result in my rise to power in this hemisphere."
Either this chick had major delusions of grandeur or she was the biggest threat
to world order in the last few decades. But I couldn't dwell on that too much,
because I had to play like a good little hypnotized agent. "Milady, it will be
an honor to serve you during your conquest!"
*We'll see about that, you ass-kissing, slutty little peon!* the Advisors
silently telepathed to me, while Kali smiled and stroked my hair.
She went on to outline my first mission; a meeting to score some Russian planes
from some sketchy characters in Kuala Lumpur. These were apparently very
nervous and prone to busting caps. So I would take a small group of hottie ops
to make sure things went as planned. I assured her it wouldn't be a problem,
and that was that. Meeting over. The Advisors grumbled to themselves as they
filed out. I was unsure of what to do, left alone with Kali for the first time.
I waited patiently while she scribbled some notes on her PDA. Finally, she
said, "Akiko, come with me, please. I've got another job for you."
She led me through a maze of corridors that weren't on the map I'd been
programmed with. Eventually we ended up in some kind of lab. "Your former
employers are more keen than ever to destroy me," she said quietly, eyes darting
this way and that. "I need to counter their efforts quickly, so I want you to
program two operatives as my new moles. Send them back to Marlin so they can
gather the intel I need."
"Yes, milady."
We entered a weird little room with an arched ceiling. Two hospital beds had
been rolled in haphazardly. I had to bite my lip when I saw the sleeping women
who occupied them. *Miyu and Akemi...*
Trying not to stammer, I said, "But Milady, I thought you said these two
couldn't leave the island. They tried to escape."
Kali was preoccupied with Akemi's caramel thigh. "I'm sorry I deceived you.
They were put on my plane last night. I don't doubt that there are hostile eyes
and ears within my walls. So I keep many things compartmentalized." She
smiled, played with Miyu's curls. "I think you'll find them suitably pliant,
now. Repeated sessions of level programming have ensured that they pose no
threat to security. I don't even think they remember what security is! And the
method you will use is quite invasive. I'm afraid they won't be good for much
after they complete their mission."
I didn't like the sound of that at all. "What do you mean, milady?"
She laughed, a sound that made my skin crawl. "I have broken your lovely
comrades, Akiko. But to be sure they follow their orders, you will - to put it
simply - burn those orders into their minds. They'll perform flawlessly, but
their higher brain functions will be irreparably harmed. An unfortunate waste
of valuable assets, to be sure, but I don't have time to wait for them to
graduate the island on their own." She sighed, kissed Miyu's forehead. "Oh
well, I can always use more Reds on the island."
Fuck! She wanted me to lobotomize them! No way was I gonna do that, so I had
to think of something, and quick. "I'm not trained to do this kind of thing,
milady," I demurred.
She stopped her tactile exploration of my colleagues and drew close to me. Her
arms snaked around my waist, and I was *mui* uncomfortable. We were about the
same size, so we saw eye to eye. I couldn't tell if she was trying to check my
conditioning or make out with me. Her chocolate eyes bored into mine, and she
seemed to actually sniff me. I nearly broke out in a sweat, she made me so
nervous. What if she could tell I wasn't her good little anymore?
Then she nailed me one, right on the lips! Instinctively, my tongue darted out,
questing, and I could feel her smile and open her mouth to mine. She made a
little noise, and my knees got all wobbly. If she hadn't held onto me when she
broke the kiss, I might have spilled onto my ass, she was that good a kisser.
One of her hands slipped down to squeeze my rear supportively. "My delicious
Akiko," she crooned. "You've fucked a lot of my since you came to Tokyo.
And they simply won't shut up about you. I'm looking forward to my next free
night, when I can see if you live up to your hype."
She pushed me lightly, and I staggered backward, surprised. I found myself
seated in a cushy chair. Kali smiled, eyes twinkling. "But first, you have
work to do. Remember how you woke up knowing how to get to the conference room
this morning?" I nodded. "This is the same thing. You're going to have a
little nap, and when you wake up, you'll know just what to do to your lovely
associates." She leaned over me, right in my face, and messed with some
switches behind me. Her neck was tantalizingly close, and she smelled
fantastic, but I didn't think trying to make out with her would work as a
distraction.
I was right. Something behind me started to hum, and instantly I felt like I'd
been up for 3 days straight. My vision got all weird, Kali seemed to recede,
and my head almost bonked into hers. She pushed my head back onto a soft
cushion, and took the opportunity to feel me up. I wished I could stay awake
for it, because she clearly knew how to push all my buttons, but I was on the
fade.
There was a chime. "Yes?" I heard Kali say. "Found her where? Really. Well,
Containment, of course. I'll meet you down there."
Someone was lightly slapping my cheek. "Akiko? Wake up, dear. This will have
to wait."
"What?" I couldn't figure out how much time had passed, or if I'd been
dreaming.
"I'm afraid we have a security problem. It's your little handmaid. Come with
me, please."
Suddenly I was wide-awake and real queasy. What had Nina done? And what would
Kali do to her now? I struggled to my feet to follow Ms. Megalomaniac.
Glancing once more at Akemi and Miyu, I noted glumly that at least *they* were
safe, for the moment.
***
"You'll need to observe how we deal with errant behavior," Kali lectured as we
moved through a tight corridor. "Especially when it occurs at my camp."
We entered a dimly lit cell, and found Nina secured to a nasty-looking chair.
Her gray schoolgirl skirt was dusty, her white blouse smudged. She flashed me a
dismal, terrified look. Two butch guards flanked her, deadly serious. They
snapped to attention when they saw Kali, and one spoke up. "Like I said,
milady. We found her aboveground. She claimed she was on an errand for Akiko
Masumi, but a guard saw her wander off to a remote point on the grounds."
Kali raised an eyebrow. "To send a transmission?" This was directed at Nina.
"No, milady!" she squeaked. "It was a pretty day and I'm used to being outside
in the sunshine. I don't like being down here very much."
"Milady," I murmured, resisting the impulse to grab Kali by the elbow. "She's
just a kid, and before today she lived on the island. I'm sure she didn't mean
anything by it."
Kali was not amused. "I realize that you harbor affection for this toy from
Ophelia Woo. And from what I've heard she's quite an amazing lay. But your
first priority is my protection. Chasing after falls somewhere lower on
the list. Clear?"
I saluted her without thinking about it. "Yes, milady!" If I so much as
uttered one more in Nina's defense, I knew the jig would be up. I was
supposedly conditioned to die for Kali, so I had to play the part.
"Ladies, take her to interrogation," she ordered the guards. "Sweep her mind,
sedate her and put her with the Marlin operatives. Akiko will deal with all
three of them later."
I couldn't so much as lift a finger as they dragged Nina away. The look she
gave me on her way out broke my heart.
"I'm sorry about your handmaid, Akiko," Kali said, softer now that we were alone,
"but you never know who's who in this business. And of course Nina will
still be able to service you after her treatment, she just might not sing and
dance so well." She gave my back a rub. "Now walk with me."
We were halfway back to the command level before she said anything else. I
bided my time by mulling some kind of rescue. "Akiko, I trust my instincts,"
she declared as we stepped into an elevator. "Maybe your handmaid really *was*
just out for some fresh air. But I'm rescheduling your mission. Instead of
tomorrow, you'll leave immediately. When you return, we'll relocate to another
base."
"Yes, milady." I tried not to let my relief show. If I had to leave so soon, I
couldn't fry my homegirls' brains just yet. Now I had time to plan something.
When I returned from this Soviet fighter deal, Nina, Akemi, Miyu and I were all
getting the fuck out of there.
***
I had my orders and my team was waiting in a van up at ground level, but before
I left I needed to drop in on Nina's interrogation. I didn't really think she
was a spy, but stranger things had happened since coming to this part of the
world.
I was in luck: when I found the right room, the guards were still fiddling
around with some insidious device, and attaching probes all over Nina's
trembling little body. She'd been stripped down to her bra and tights, and it
was cold in there. The guards eyed me warily as I walked in, so I sneered at
Nina for effect. "I thought I told you to stay out of trouble."
She burst into tears. "I'm sorry, milady!" I hoped this little performance
would be short, because seeing Nina so miserable was almost more than I could
bear.
"It's not enough that you've embarrassed me during my first day serving Kali," I
growled. "*Now* I have to worry about whether or not you're a spy."
The guards smirked their encouragement as Nina shook her head. "I'm not a spy,
I'm not! I just had to get outside for a while. Please let me out of here,
milady!"
I drew one of the guards aside conspiratorially. "I feel just awful about this,
doll," I whispered. "I wanna handle this one real personal like. Capiche?"
She grinned her approval, nodded at the other guard. "C'mon Val. Let's take a
smoke break."
Once they were gone, I carefully searched the room for equipment,
while Nina cried softly. I found the usual surveillance stuff, for later
playback and enjoyment of torture highlights. Nonchalantly deactivated it, with
a few keystrokes. Hopefully, Kali wouldn't want to see any tape until I got
back from Malaysia. From behind Nina, I leaned in to her ear.
"Sorry about that, baby," I whispered, "but I had to stay in character." Before
I could apologize further, Nina turned sideways as best she could against her
bonds and kissed me fiercely.
When I finally managed to break away, she gushed, "I *knew* you wouldn't
me, milady! I knew you'd save me!"
I dabbed at her tears with her discarded blouse. "Shhhhh. Well, the saving
part is going to have to come later. I gotta figure out how I'm going to get
you, Akemi and Miyu out of here. But first I have to catch a plane to
Malaysia."
Nina was crestfallen. Her lower lip trembled. "You're leaving?" Then she
cocked her head. "Your other friends are here? How?"
If I were the one in the torture chair, I probably wouldn't be worried about the
comings and goings of people I barely knew. "That's not important right now..."
I began. Then I had a little epiphany. "Aw Jesus, Nina! You *are* a spy,
aren't you?"
She looked at me sheepishly, through strands of hair.
"Fuck!" I took a deep breath. "Later. We'll talk about this later. I've got
to knock you out. They'll keep you sedated until I get back, since Kali wants
me to personally scramble your brains." I bugged my eyes out at her, making her
smile, but only a little. "But I'm not doing that, okay? I'm getting the four
of us the hell out of here."
She nodded. I picked up a hypo full of sedative from a tray of torture
implements and waved it at her. "You ready?"
"Kiss me goodbye first," she pouted. Nina being Nina, the liplock threatened to
last the rest of the afternoon.
"Okay," I protested, pushing her tongue back in her mouth with a slurp. "Sweet
dreams." She made a face when I stuck the needle in her thigh, but she was
pretty stoic overall. I stayed with her until her head drooped forward, eyelids
fluttering. On my way to the elevator, I made arrangements with a security
chick to have Nina join my Marlin colleagues.
***
Things went by the numbers on the way to our meeting in KL. The flight into
KLIA at Sepang was uneventful, and the ride to the weird meeting location in
Cyberjaya was interesting, since it'd been a few years since my last visit.
Development was out of control around here. It was also hot as fuck, even
though the sun had been down for an hour. And talk about humidity! LA seemed
like a Canadian paradise in comparison. Weather like this was the only thing
that made me regret wearing black fatigues.
We pulled our unmarked van into the parking garage of a big computer company,
and waited for our contacts to show. My three svelte, no-nonsense
operatives pensively kept to themselves, but we had a little sisterly thing
going on because we shared our cigarettes.
Right on schedule, another van pulled up next to us, and I stepped out to meet
the scowling representatives from Kazakhstan. Negotiations were quick and to
the point - the delivery of Soviet hardware would take place later. Lucky
for us, these didn't know that Kali would be paying in British Pounds
printed by her own slave girls.
I was just about to tell my driver to start his engine, when one of the Kazakhs
told me someone wanted to speak to me privately inside their van. I exchanged a
look with my - who suddenly became very alert - then I smiled at the guy
and climbed in. I felt pretty confident about walking out of this alive,
especially on seeing only one guy inside the Kazakh van. The door slid shut
behind me.
It was dark in there, so I couldn't see this guy very well. "OK, what do we
have left to talk about?" I prompted.
"Keep your voice down, dude," whispered someone very familiar.
"Alex, you crazy bitch!" I hissed, crossing the van floor between us on my
knees. I hugged him so hard that he groaned.
"Easy! I'm glad to see you, too, but we don't have much time."
Sure, I was happy to see him, but as usual with Alex there were other feelings,
too. "Where have you *been?* Do you realize the kind of shit I'm in?"
"Yes, actually." He took my hands in his and gave a squeeze, tried his pretty
smile. "Look, things didn't go exactly as planned, Akiko, but the results are
the same. You're in. Right where we wanted you."
"I figured as much. You sure took your time getting up with me! Nice turban,
by the way."
"Thanks. I'm sorry we couldn't communicate with you before now, but let me
explain what happened. We only have a few minutes, so I gotta be quick."
I turned my back to him, sat in his lap, wrapped his arms around my waist.
"Okay, go ahead."
He gave my hips a squeeze. "We knew Kali would make a play for you from day
one. So Doctor Sato was in the process of giving you a specific kind of
resistance programming."
"Right, the tanning bed thing."
"Exactly. Agents Ohmori and Mitsuya completed their sessions. But *you* had
only been through two of the four sessions before you were abducted by Agent
Ohmori. So you got swiped before you were ready."
"You knew all about that, and you let them take me to that island," I accused.
"I thought you told me on our first day that you and I would be working this
case together."
"Yes, we let them take you. It was critical to maintain the cover of the
operation. Ohmori-san and Mitsuya-san were able to resist their conditioning
more than you could. It was our belief that they could keep you safe. But they
underestimated security."
"Yeah," I said. "And now Kali wants me to lobotomize them, Alex! Do you know
how much trouble they're in?"
"I do." He gave me another tight squeeze. "What? You think Kali's the only
one with double agents?"
I pulled my hands away. "If you tell me that Nina's one of ours, I'll pop you
square in the nads."
He sounded guilty. "Not from our branch. But she's a new recruit, yes.
Somehow, she got close to you. She recognized you from intelligence files, and
soon we were able to monitor your progress."
I pulled away from him, turned to face him. I was getting angrier by the
second. "Yes, Alex. And Nina's been discovered. That's why when I get back to
that compound, I'm getting all three of them the fuck out of there! And you're
gonna help me, right?"
"Are you insane?" His voice broke above a whisper, and he glanced at the van
door. "Because your training was incomplete, you kept your cover by remaining
hypnotized when the other agents blew it. When we got Nina's last transmission,
we knew you had eventually snapped out of it. Akiko, because of that, Kali
thinks she's completely broken you! You're her new bodyguard, for chrissake!"
"Fuck Kali!" I told him, causing him to put a hand over my mouth and jerk his
head toward the folks waiting outside. I shook him away. "I'm in over my head
here, Alex! I can't go back there and basically kill those women, just to keep
my cover!" I started to lose my composure, the tears streaked down my cheeks.
Ever thoughtful, Alex backed off to try a different tack. "Do you know what
Kali will do if we let her get her shit together?" I shook my head. "Let's
just say more than three people will die. What about the thousands of
she's enslaved?"
I just kept crying and looked down at my knees.
His voice softened considerably. "Akiko. You've got to go back. We're so
close to taking her down. All we need you to do is make a single transmission
when she's on the move."
"What are you talking about?" I sniffed.
He pulled something out of his pocket that looked like a screwdriver, put
his hands on the back of my neck. I felt something cold, and static crackled
sharply through my head. "Ow!" I yelped.
"Sorry. Remember your communications implant? They disabled it on the island.
I just reinitialized it."
I rubbed the back of my neck and glared at him. "Thanks, I think."
"Listen! When Kali jumps from place to place, we can never track her well
enough to catch her. Sometimes it takes us days to figure out where she is.
But we've leaked some bogus intel, to flush her out. We happen to know that she
plans to move as soon as you get back, but we don't know where she'll go. If
you send a burst from your communicator as soon as you leave with her, we'll be
able to take care of the rest, and all this will be over."
I wiped my eyes and pleaded, "What about our people, Alex? Can't you do
anything?"
He bit his lip, and stared at me for a sec. "If you can think fast on your end,
I might be able to save them." Someone tapped on the van door, and he grabbed
my elbows. "Just remember. Stay close to Kali. Send a burst as soon as she
moves." His lips grazed mine. "Now get out of here."
I barely had five seconds to get it together and look like I hadn't been crying.
The van door opened and I hopped out, making sure to face Alex's men, who
wouldn't ask questions about my puffy eyes. "Thank you, gentlemen. We'll be on
our way." Somehow, I made it inside the dark interior of our van without my
soldiers getting a good look at me.
So the whole show was riding on me. Somehow, I had to save Miyu, Akemi and
Nina, while bringing down Kali and her crazy hive of slavegirls. I ordered us
back to the airport, lit a cigarette and tried not to freak out.
To Be Continued
By Aerosol Kid
Comments? Email me at <aerosol_kid@hotmail.com>
Visit me at http://www.asstr.org/~AK_Home
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