Ebb Tide Ch. 02

The girls even showered with the bathroom door open, all because they couldn't take a cold shower like normal...well, like me. No, they had to have the shower so hot that it created a humid cloud thick enough to cut with a knife. All my doors were perfectly balanced with a wood veneer covering multiple, layered ceramic mesh plates -- for protection. Why did I bother?

There was no lesbian heavy petting going on. G had rolled onto her side facing away from me. Dabney was on the far side, reclining so that her back was to the headboard and G's forehead was pressed against Dabney's bare thigh. Dabney had stripped down to her underwear ~ black Brazilian-cut translucent panties and matching 34DD bra.

G was still wearing the short black leather skirt with the zipper in the back and a sleeveless rose-colored, V-neck shirt and diamond-net thigh high stockings with a lacy top. Since G was classy, I was guessing her panties matched her 32D-sized black bra. It was one of those support models that clipped beneath her cleavage making, it appear at first glance as if she was going bra-less.

I put one knee on the bed next to G's mid-back, facing forward. G wiggled around so that she was on her back. Her left hand caressed my thigh.

"V, I am so sorry for bringing you into my mess," she sniffled.

"G," I ran my fingertips over the top of her hand, "I'm not that sixteen year old kid anymore, gawking at a twenty-two year old trophy wife. I've done a lot of growing up and growing uglier, while you seem still priceless," I let a smile ghost over my lips before turning fierce. "Your eyes are different G. You've seen the worst in human nature and you've had to face it alone. You are not alone anymore. I can promise you right now I'm going destroy Lloyd.

"That's not bragging, G. Over the past 15 years, I've killed warlords, drug lords and terrorist masterminds, along with a supertanker load of peons who thought getting between me and my goal was a good idea," I drove my deadly intent home. "I'm a natural at trauma healthcare ~ being a paramedic. I love the job. I love saving lives. Along the way, it turned out I was really good at taking lives too; not only with my hands, but with my mind," I explained.

"That's true," Dabney chimed in. "He had my ex-pimp, Pablo, killed by the guys he'd paid to kill Vance. I saw it happen before my very eyes. It was fantastic. ..."I...ah...I mean it was remarkable how he handled it. I didn't see it coming until it happened. I screwed up and Vance didn't abandon me...though my burns still sting," she toned down her enthusiasm. "I really thought he had deserted me several times. I lost hope. But then," Dabney choked up, "he showed up, just like he promised, and saved me."

"Dabney," G addressed my friend while looking at me, "you two were friends. V and I...we were passing acquaintances at best. I'm sure that Pablo was a bad individual. My ex-husband is a monster on a completely different level. He has judges and police officers on his payroll."

"Are you afraid of Lloyd Pharris, Vance?" Dabney drew my attention by flipping her hair off her breasts and over her shoulder.

"Afraid?" I stated firmly. "Yes, I'm afraid of Lloyd. I was afraid of him fifteen years ago and I'm afraid of him now. The difference now is that I understand the principles of unconventional warfare and that is exactly how I'm going to approach Lloyd Pharris. He possesses a massive organization, but I see that as a vulnerability, as well as an asset for him.

"He can't be guarding every bit of his powerbase. I've already hammered away at the LVMPD, reducing its utility as a tool for him. Now the cops look bad publicly coming after me. Coming after me in the dark of night...I'm not someone you want to jump into the dark with," I explained.

"I know that I've got to destroy Lloyd and I understand and appreciate his power. I know that Lloyd doesn't respect me," I grinned. "He thinks I can't beat him and he expects me to play defense."

"What do you plan to do?" G wondered.

"I'm not going to say," I shook my head. "I expect either of you to fold up under pressure. That is perfectly normal and I don't hold that against you. The only two crimes that you two can link me to is all hearsay. There is no physical evidence and there is no way to verify a motive for the first crime, thus tying me to the second," I pointed out. "My actions today only make Lloyd's goals harder to accomplish."

"What do you think Lloyd will do?" G worried.

"Civil suit first," I responded. "He'll find the families of the men I killed today and have them file a wrongful death suit. They'll lose, but the point is to drain my finances and focus my attention while I'm fighting the case. That's plays to his strengths ~ the legal system."

"What are you going to do?" G asked.

"I'm not going to tell you," I kissed the tip of her nose. G looked flummoxed by the gesture. Dabney wasn't willing to surrender my attention easily. She ran her right hand through my hair and drew me into a Dabney-satisfying tongue twister.

"Maybe I should leave," G proposed. I could tell Dabney was seriously considering asking her to give her and I some alone time. Then she tried to judge my mood. I did the worst and best thing. I put on a poker face. I left her in control. She was clearly uncomfortable with that burden because it had been denied for so long.

Dabney had to put everything on the line by defining, and then implementing, what she wanted from me, what she expected from herself and how G would fit into this new paradigm. There was little doubt in my mind that Dabney took the age difference of the three of us into account. My age was smack in the middle and G might be the older partner.

G won because of Dabney's age bias. I could live with that. So could G apparently.

"Stay," Dabney smiled down at her.

"Alright," I slurred in my best scumbag voice. "You ladies get all warmed up and I'll set up the webcam." Dabney punched me in the upper left arm. I faux-flinched.

I didn't flinch from the pain. I faked flinching because I'd been training my instincts for over a decade to not let people punch me. I could see that violent instinct briefly reveal itself.

"Ow!" I play-squalled the rolled off the bed backwards onto my back on the floor. Dabney crawled over G so she could look down on me, her hair hanging down and boobs struggling to bust loose from her flimsy brassier.

"It serves you right," Dabney teased me. "Don't you ever try to take advantage of us."

G rolled on to her left side, squeezing Dabney's breast farther forward.

"That's right," she joined in, "don't you dare take us for granted."

"Damn it," I frowned. "I was planning to take you both. I guess it is the living room and ESPN for me."

Dabney spilled off the bed and onto me. I caught her and led her falling form to land on me face to face. She was nimble enough to not put a knee into my groin.

"Where do you think you are going?" Dabney snarled.

"I'm with you, Dabney," G pouted. "I haven't had sex in four years and I'm about to explode. I haven't been in such close proximity to a sexy man in...well, a far longer time than that."

Dabney's eyes grew wide and playfully fearful.

"Please G," she whimpered. "Don't break him." G nodded happily. That she might feel threatened by a younger woman was a real possibility.

"Wow...it's been so long I can't think of where to start," G murmured.

"I got this," Dabney sat up, her crotch pressing down on my 'happy hammer'. "Let's get his clothes off and put him back on the bed. I'll start out on the bottom and you can start on top." That confused G and somewhat befuddled me. "He's really good with his tongue," clarified the matter.

Appreciating a naked G and a naked Dabney would have to wait. Dabney had grown very horny and G possessed more hunger than uncertainty. Me...this wasn't what I'd wanted Sunday, but I was all with the program now. Dabney ramped up the program. Last night, Dabney had showed me more of a routine at the start. The passion came later. Tonight she did without the blowjob.

A few quick, expert hand jerks and she mounted me super-quick. Dabney wasn't super-tight and I never had any delusion she would be. She more than made up for that by undulating vagina control. Her lumen (the vaginal space) was giving a very moist and hot 'hand job'. Whereas Dabney was raring to go, G was hesitant and only semi-lubricated.

That was okay. My tongue didn't mind. G barely hesitated before maneuvering herself, front facing Dabney. I moved both my arms out to my sides so I could maintain some mobility. I used that freedom to grab hold of G's hips and forcefully hold her labia down for some serious tongue-play. Her juices were flowing like sweet nectar in less than a minute.

"Wait," G gasped. "Should we be using condoms, or something?"

"V is the only man I've had unprotected sex with in years," Dabney comforted her. "Besides, I'm on the pill. Aren't you?"

"Ah...no," G confessed. "It has been tough to get an OBGYN I could trust for the past two years. I used to be."

"That's okay," Dabney spoke for me since I had my mouth full. "Vance -- no dickey G's pussy. Got it?" she emphasized each word with a vaginal game of twister. Fuck, she was fantastic.

"Mmmmpphfmm..." I mumbled. I put my own emphasis on G's clit which was just coming out to play. G's startled reaction had her trying to rocket up and away, but my grip on her posterior was too strong.

"Oh my God...oh my God...OH MY GOOOODDDD!!!!" G squealed. She wasn't a squirter, but she was definitely excited.

"Whoa," Dabney giggled. "You weren't kidding about that long, dry spell."

"Hu, hu, hu, hu," G panted, still cresting with her orgasm.

Dabney got cruel (I would later learn). She pushed G's unresisting shoulders back, then suckled on one thick nipple while pinching the other. Dabney alternated between each tit, which only drove G crazier. As her orgasm ran its course, G began serious humping my face. Dabney upped her game by dragging her right hand long along my chest, along my neck and chin, then started plucking and twisting G's clitoris.

Excellent Sex Professionals ROCK! I appreciate anyone who works hard to master their craft, and I was exulting in Dabney's expertise. The thing was, most of my life I could have never truly afforded someone of her caliber. Now it was free...if you discounted all the blood and effort I was going through to keep her safe.

As much as I was getting into G's pleasure, G was going nuts over our combined ministrations. Finally, she had to 'tap out'. She tried dismounting my face gracefully but it turned into more like a collapsing tower with shivering thighs. Now it was Dabney's turn. She'd done her bit for our domestic tranquility.

Oh sure, my original life plan was gone, dead and buried. But I had to admit that my new life could have turned out a lot worse. A whole lot worse.

{Epilogue}

"I would like to know why Mr. Vardanyan is still a problem, Rogers," Lloyd mused. He stood behind his desk, looking out the floor length window that revealed the city he wanted to master. He wanted to be able to crush bugs like Vardanyan whenever the mood took him. He wanted everyone, from the highest to lowest, to know that their lives were based on his sufferance. He wanted the very mention of his name to inspire fear and slavish obedience.

He wasn't there yet. His network of political pawns, public servants, moles, snitches and the criminally inclined was an ever-growing empire. Whether they were bound to him by a paycheck, blackmail, or their own perversions -- he didn't care. What mattered was that he controlled them ... and he had their replacement lined up.

No one person was critical to Mr. Pharris. In time, he'd tire of toying with a person and have them 'removed'. In a few more years, he'd be untouchable, free of all restraints. A tiny side project had hit a snag. He had been told it was dealt with ... then...not dealt with. So he had responded ... and his underling's efforts had failed again. Now Lloyd was deciding how to deal with that failure.

"Well," he kept the anger from his voice.

"Baphomet, Mr. Vardan 'Vance' 'V' Vardanyan is a former employee of yours," Rogers began. Lloyd Pharris was Baphomet the Vice Lord of Envy in Las Vegas. Mr. Pharris wanted to be the new 'Xaltotun', The Lord of Pride and Master of the Vice Lords and Ladies of the city. The other five Vice Lords and Ladies were not endorsing that endeavor.

{A Note on The Vice Lords}

The first, last and only Xaltotun had created the Vice Lords and Ladies in the aftermath of the destruction of the Costa Nostra organizations in Nevada. The government had cut off the Syndicate's head, but the criminal base remained. Chaos ensued as tiny factions struggled for various pieces of the pie. The crime rate rose dramatically and the city was in trouble.

At first, Xaltotun (real name unknown to Rogers) tried to take over. He (or she) quickly realized all they were doing was adding to the violence, so Xaltotun came up with a novel experiment. This person sought out six other powerful and prosperous criminal figures and proposed they divide up the city's underworld.

The six others were rather receptive to Xaltotun's ideas because the rising tide of disorder was hurting their bottom line. Like Xaltotun, they also knew that no single one of them couldn't take over the whole city. A détente was equally pointless. Power would shift, some ambitious punk would start trouble and they'd be back in the same old chaotic situation once more.

Dividing the city into strict geographic territories was ruled out as no one wanted to give up the most lucrative spots in Las Vegas. Gerrymandering was doomed to failure as well. Xaltotun put forth the idea of separating the city by types of crime instead. He/she'd already chose the six for their preponderance of influence in a given field in the first place.

It wasn't a danger-free process and squabbles happened, but the peace held. By cooperating, all the other felonious factions were recruited, wiped out, or driven out of town. The fate of the American Mafia in Vegas impressed upon them that safety lay in keeping a low profile. They adopted various noms de guerre based on fictionalized personalities then created the mystique behind the names.

The Vice Lords included:

Circe -- The Lady of Lust who controlled all forms of the sex trade including phone-sex operations, brothels, escort service, gentlemen's clubs and street prostitution.

Sycorax -- The Gluttonous Lady who controlled trade in the exotic from importing endangered animals, non-human blood sports rings, human trafficking and slavery. If a sex group involved enslaved people, it was her purview, not Circe's.

Archimago -- The Lord of Greed who controlled all gambling-related matters. He watched the casinos and dealt with any criminals muscling in. Cheaters got black-balled by the casinos. Archimago beat them up once. Twice earned you a hole in the desert. All illegal betting, such as the extensive underground human blood-sports matches, was also his domain.

Jareth -- The Lord of Sloth controlled the homeless, panhandling and non-violent street crime as well as the economic underclass ~ maids, custodians, valets, cooks and wait-staff. Jareth may have seemed weak compared to the others except all the little people gave him eyes and ears all over the city.

Thulsa Doom -- The Lord of Rage controlled all major arms deals and professional murders in the Vice Lords' domain. Gang violence was okay. If it crossed the line into hurting the tourist industry, he would make an example of the perpetrators with extreme prejudice.

Baphomet -- The Lord of Envy handled the political/governmental side of things. He was the corruptor. Anyone could control an entry level civil servant, including beat cops. Once a person became a manager-equivalent in any municipal, or state governmental office, they fell into Baphomet's exclusive domain. In the LVMPD that meant lieutenants on up.

The same went for the Mayor's office, the Clark County Commissioners and the major political parties and unions. If another Vice Lord, wanted something done about legal issues, they paid Baphomet to make the problem go away. Only Federal agencies were sacrosanct, or they had been before Xaltotun's demise.

Finally, there was Xaltotun -- The Lord of Pride who kept everyone working together and took tribute from the other six. He adjudicated disputes, handled the over-all banking and money-laundering operations, and coordinated efforts against foreign interlopers if they became too much for one of the others to combat.

Multiple Mexican, Latin American and South American Cartels, the Russian Mafia, the Cosa Nostra, Chinese Tongs and Japanese Yakuza had challenged the Vice Lords dominance. Several prison gangs and motorcycle outlaws clubs gave it a shot as well.

Using selective assassinations, above board legal proceedings, intervention by law enforcement and intimidation, each competitor had been infiltrated, subverted and then destroyed. Over time, the Vice Lord's influence encompassed all of Southern Nevada, Southwestern Utah, Western Arizona and Southern California east of the San Bernardino Mountains.

If there seemed to be a glaring hole in Xaltotun's grand vision, it was that no Vice Lord controlled the drug trade. The reason they avoided this massive money-making opportunity was obvious in hindsight. There were entire municipal, state, federal and international agencies devoting billions of dollars combating the illegal flow of drugs into the United States.

The Vice Lords greatest weapon was anonymity. No one on the criminal front-lines was even sure they existed. Everyone feared them, but no one knew who they were. Even the middle men -- the tax collectors -- didn't know who they worked for. If fell to small number of key aides to keep each Vice Lord's secrets.

Rarely were those people even involved in the vice in question so they rarely drew notice from external criminal entities and law enforcement. Fewer still knew that the Vice Lords, as a criminal syndicate, was real. They knew their Vice Lord/Lady lived and breathed...the others? All of this made for a multi-billion dollar criminal empire...that no one knew about.

They built up each other's legends until most people and law enforcement agencies were certain the Vice Lords/Ladies were nothing more than an urban myth. By the dawn of the 21st century, only the most deranged conspiracy theorists believed there was an organized crime outfit controlling the city's darker side which was how the Vice Lords liked it. For 25 years, the system worked. Now the city was on the verge of criminal anarchy once more; undoing a quarter century of prosperity.

20 months ago, Xaltotun's designated successor vanished. Two months later, Xaltotun passed on, having failed to name a new heir. Xaltotun's underlings kept the system functioning yet none of them had the clout, or endorsement from the Vice Lords to take over. Sooner or later an internal conflict would arise and there would be no way, outside of violence, to straighten things out.

{The Lord of Envy}

"At which business?" Lloyd didn't turn around.

"He worked at your house from May 1997 to December 1998. He was your pool boy according to tax receipts. The reason for his departure from your service is not known. In January 1999, he joined the United States Navy and..." Rogers continued.