Guardian Program Ch. 21

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Guardian Program Ch. 21

A novel by R.C.PeterGabiel, all rights reserved.

I called Toni, only to find out that she had taken a sleeping pill and gone to bed early. She claimed that all was right with the world, but her tone left me wondering.

Having spent last night working out logistics for the Tokyo situation, I started reviewing Mr. Jack Henderson's file, aka James Iverhouse, from its inception. What I found after six hours, was surprising.

He'd placed Sam on my tail before he'd ever heard of the Guardian Program, which I suspected, but had to be sure of. What surprised me was that he seemed to be a genuinely honorable person. He did his work thoroughly, and efficiently, like most people at his level, but he repeatedly refused to compromise himself to get the job done.

I enjoyed watching his interaction with his family and wife and he seemed to be genuinely fond of them. He showed remorse at having to be away from them to work. He even seemed to have a friendly concern for Sam's welfare beyond her being the only asset the DOD has within my sphere of control. Although he obviously found her attractive, he never ogled her beyond the usual male glancings. He paid his bills ahead of time but didn't flaunt his new wealth. His only indiscretion seemed to be, his and Jim Iverhouse's alteration of the duty rosters. In essence, I liked the man. Well, at least respected him.

I guess out of all the employees working for any covert organization of the DOD, there had to be at least one honest individual.

Feeling not quite so tense about the situation with the US government, I decided to make lunch. I loaded a tray and headed down to the playroom. Setting the tray down on the bed I continued into the vault.

What I saw was that every item from the trunk had been removed and sorted into categories--different neatly arranged piles at various points around the room. I was bemused to note, that by far the largest pile belonged to my inherited assortment of sex education material.

Every book, anatomical text and otherwise, that had been written on the subject before my Grandfather's death was included. Almost three dozen VHS tapes demonstrating every known sexual act that one or more humans could partake in with another human. Next to those were twenty-two years' worth of adult magazines with eight titles, and one-hundred-sixteen erotic novels, were stacked in neat piles. I never really thought about how much sexual material I had consumed at such a young age.

I guess my grandfather went a little overboard in his desire to teach me about the social possibilities available in the world. Either that or the man was just a pervert. Probably both, but either way, I'm grateful to him. He was always kind and helped me find an outlet for my many frustrations.

Not seeing Sam, I was about to check the restroom, when I heard a soft sniff coming from the far side of the dais. I circled it to find her half-buried in tissues.

There were quite a few of my notes on electronic architecture and particle physics open around her as well. But she was reading my journal from when I was nine, while quietly sobbing.

She looked up at me with shiny red eyes, and marked her spot with a fresh tissue, then started to climb to her feet. I stepped closer to help her up, but she was standing before I got around far enough, so we just melded into a hug.

We embraced for several minutes, but it seemed different. She felt stiff as if she wasn't comfortable in my arms. Then she pulled away and grabbed one more tissue before striding from the room, blowing her nose as she walked.

I knew at that moment that she had found something she couldn't handle, and was about to leave me. "Sam?" was all I managed to get past the lump in my throat, but it came out a whisper. I doubted she heard me.

I moved to follow her, but I was afraid to catch up. If I did, she'd be able to tell me goodbye, so feeling like a coward, I waited a few more seconds, before following at her pace. She had spotted the tray on the bed and picked it up, but continued out the door, as I entered from the vault.

Because the stairs followed a winding course, I couldn't see her as we ascended. When I got to the top of the stairs, I still couldn't see her. She could have gone in any of four directions.

Assuming that she had continued upstairs to retrieve her 'Julie' persona so she could return to work, I sat down on the stairs to wait for her. It wasn't long before I was working myself into a seriously depressed state. I tried to reason with myself, but I quickly decided it didn't matter how long I'd known her. She was part of me, and I needed all my parts.

I sent up a desperate prayer for intercession. I was begging forgiveness for all of the deaths that I had allowed in pursuit of what I hoped was the greater good, promising to work faster if God would only fix this!

Within minutes I was reliving Shannon's loss, feeling complete despair. I sat with my eyes clenched shut and my fingers gripping the edge of the step that I was sitting on so hard they were cramping. I didn't care, I deserved the pain for being stupid. I think I was moaning my lament, but I couldn't be sure. I know I was trembling. I couldn't stop, even though I was trying to.

Then something touched my foot so lightly that if I hadn't been barefoot, I wouldn't have felt it.

Forcing my eyes open to find Sam, on her knees, with her forehead on the floor. Her elbows and forearms flat, one arm extended above her head, reaching out to me.

"Sam?"

I realized she had been whispering. "Please forgive me. Please. Please forgive me," over and over.

I tried to ask her calmly what she meant, but I don't think I succeeded. "Forgive you for what Sam? I don't blame you for wanting to leave me."

She crawled forward and started kissing my feet. "Please Robert, forgive me! I don't want to leave you! I'm so stupid, I'm so, sooo sorry! Please punish me. I should have told you what I was doing. Please forgive me."

I couldn't believe what was happening. My heart and my eyes were in complete conflict. "What?" I asked in confusion.

"Robert, please forgive me!" she begged again.

I was so choked up I couldn't speak.

"I should have waited and told you what I wanted to do. I am so sorry. I didn't even begin to think that you'd take my walking out to mean I wanted to leave you. I don't want to leave you! Please, forgive me!"

When I could comprehend what she was saying, I pulled her up into a crushing hug. "Thank you, God!" I whispered. "Thank you!"

A minute later, I suddenly realized that I had been squeezing Sam too tightly, because she had started tapping out, to get me to loosen up enough for her to breathe.

"Sorry. I..." I began, but couldn't continue. I had to take several cleansing breaths to center myself before I could. "I'm not sure what just happened, but I never want to go through that again."

"Please, please believe me. I didn't mean to hurt you. When I saw you sitting here, I felt my soul cry out. I knew I had hurt you. All I can do is beg you to forgive me."

I could see that my being upset, had devastated her. If I had doubted her feelings before, I certainly couldn't doubt them now. My reaction to the situation was also telling of the level of my emotions.

"Sam, I'm sorry too. The misunderstanding was on my part, not yours. I can't forgive you for something that was my fault. I didn't mean to upset you either. Will you forgive me?"

"Robert, you're my world, my life. I know you remember me saying you can do anything you want to me. I will never need to forgive you. I love you!"

After several moments she coyly looked up at me and asked, "Even if you don't think you need to, and if it's okay with you, could you punish me anyway?"

I felt the last few cracks and bruises on my heart heal and a smile spread across my face. "Oh, Ms. Thornton, I think that could be arranged. What were you doing, by the way?"

"Well, I had read that the only time your parents had offered to have a picnic with you was when they were going to take you to Redden State Forest. But they canceled the trip when you got into another fight at school. I figured you'd come down to get me because it was lunchtime, and I thought we could have one in the yard. I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but the idea just popped into my head when I saw you."

"Hmmm, I suppose I could suffer through a picnic with you," I joked, trying for a long-suffering look. I picked her up over my shoulder and carried her outside.

She had my tray laid out in the center of a blanket, along with a six-pack. I figured she was only guessing what was in them because the label was in Portuguese.

Super Bock being my favorite beer, I was pleasantly surprised that she'd found some. "How'd you manage the Super Bock? It wasn't in the refrigerator."

"In your journal, you mentioned that it was your favorite. When I read it, I asked Hal if there was any in the Underdark, and when he said yes, I asked him to arrange for some to be sent up. That was before I even thought of the picnic, but I wanted it to be a surprise, so I had it sent up the back elevator because you would notice me get it out of the one by your office."

"And just how were you planning on paying for it?" I asked, as I gave her a swat, and set her down.

"Well, I figured I could set up a tab. Or work it off, in the brothel," she said with a smirk and sarcastic tone. "That's when I found out that everything here was free, which is way cool, by the way. Hal explained the details about how everyone who works here, works for free, but with a zero cost of living. The long-term expectation being a nice retirement. Funny thing was, I read your feelings on the subject, about fifteen minutes later."

We sat close enough to each other to touch, while we ate, and talked. I enjoyed my beer, Sam politely drank hers, but I could tell she wasn't into it.

"Don't like the beer?"

She gave me an embarrassed smile. "I'm fond of darker beer."

"It comes in 'darker'"

"I know, but there wasn't any available in the Underdark. This is okay, just not my favorite."

"Maybe you just don't have the right dispenser," I explained, then took a swig from her bottle, and leaned over to kiss her, squirting some in her mouth.

She smiled, then swallowed. "Mmmmm, much better" she agreed with a chuckle.

After a few minutes, we decided that eating wasn't going to continue. Mostly because we'd rolled around in what was left. We stripped down, rinsed off, and got into the already hot, hot tub.

Because we use the waste heat from the computers to heat all the water in the Underdark, it's more efficient to keep it running.

She straddled my lap, so we could talk face-to-face and maintain skin contact. The conversation was mostly about my journal. I wondered how she had read about the beer and the employment arrangements for my secret underground city when she had been reading the journal from when I was nine. I found out that she was going through them for the second time when I came in. I also found out that I had written my newer journals in a mixture of languages without even realizing it. Supposedly, using words from several languages in the same sentence.

I asked her how she could read it. She smiled and said she couldn't, and had to have Hal read it to her.

I forced her to talk to me about my mental health, after all, that was almost the entire reason for allowing her to read my journals to begin with.

She informed me that either A: I was completely delusional about the things I claimed I had discovered, or B: I would become the savior of the modern world.

She did add a third possibility, that she was the delusional one, and that this whole experience was nothing but a long and detailed wet dream. I did my best to assure her that she wasn't dreaming, but in truth how do you prove to someone that they aren't?

She then promised that she would make a genuine effort to psychoanalyze me, but that she wanted to read through the journals a few more times, as well as have me prove one or two of the more grandiose claims I had made in them.

After that, the conversation drifted to the fact that I was due to fly back in the morning. I gave her the option of staying. She said she would rather not be anywhere that she couldn't touch me. As nice as that sounded we concluded that it would be difficult for Toni, and Jessie, to come to grips with our relationship if she were living in the same house.

I hoped that we could all live together someday, but Jessie seemed to be leaving the nest, so that didn't seem likely. Sam insisted that she at least be allowed to stay on the same continent that I was on, and made me promise that I would take her with me whenever I traveled abroad.

Right after that Hal reminded me that we needed to get out of the hot tub, so we got out and did a few laps in the pool to cool down. Then we dried off and went into my office.

Sam begged me to let her get dressed. She didn't want to talk to her boss in the nude, but she needed to make the call. I agreed to her dressing. When she returned, I tried to give her privacy, but she didn't want it.

Sam used my cell, calling her handler. Jack Henderson answered on the second ring. He sounded surprised. "Mr. Smith, what can I do for you, at ... seven o'clock on a Saturday?"

"Mr. Iverhouse, it isn't Mr. Smith, it's Samantha Thornton. I'm on his phone."

"Miss Thornton? Are you alright?" asked her confused handler. "How did you get his phone?"

"Yes, I'm fine. Listen I'll talk for as long as I can, but I don't have much time. Mr. Smith is in the shower. He usually takes longish showers, but I can't guarantee it. This is the first time he's left his phone where I could get to it. My phone died on the flight over and I didn't have a power converter to charge it."

"Where are you? I've been looking for you all week."

"I'm at Mr. Smith's villa, somewhere east of Nice, France. It's a huge place, right on the water."

"By the way, I want to be called Ms. Instead of Miss. Mr. Smith has taught me that titles are important for gaining respect."

Sam smiled while looking at her ring, then looked up and met my eyes. "He is a fanatic about certain things. Names are one of them."

"Oh-kay," Henderson said like he hadn't seen that coming.

"I'll get right to it. He has to feel in control, but he won't tolerate bullying of any kind. I saw him almost attack a twelve-year-old for pushing a younger friend. I certainly wouldn't give him a reason to think you're a bully.

"But as I said, he has to feel in control. He made me cut and bleach my hair." This got a second smile from me.

"He seems conflicted on some deep level like he's carrying a huge weight, but on the surface, he seems happy. He is devoted to his wife and daughter, but willing to have an affair. I suspect it's because his wife isn't into the kinky things that he likes. I believe the risk-taking and deviant activities he partakes in, stem from his being bullied during childhood.

"A near workaholic, he's toured at least three of his companies since we've been here and has made nearly a hundred phone calls. Unfortunately, I wasn't invited along, but I do have a very good lead on one of his aliases, supposedly from California. This one owns a cell phone company in Japan. The company suffered a big fire and he's upset about a distribution setback.

"He speaks Japanese for sure, and possibly other languages also. I'm not a linguist, so I'm not positive.

"I still don't know what it is, but he's mentioned a 'Black Knight' several times. He seems to be very concerned about the progression of some program that he's connected with, that involves the device.

"Do you have any questions, Mr. Iverhouse?"

"I have many, but I won't ask yet. It is excellent that you've managed to get close to him. We know all about his device, so don't try to find out anything about it. It could be dangerous for you.

"Please, listen closely, it is imperative, that we know why he's doing the things he does. I need you to see if you can figure out his motivations. I also want to see you face to face, at the first opportunity. Do you ..."

Sam cut him off. "I have to go," she stage whispered and hung up on him. She asked me with her eyes if she had done okay.

I pulled her against me and answered with my mouth on hers. When she was breathing heavily I pulled back and asked, "Why did you tell him about your hair?"

She tried momentarily to continue the kiss, then focused on my face.

"You're teasing me on purpose, aren't you?"

When I smiled and nodded, she just smiled back for a second, then looked at her left hand. "They don't know the real reason why I want to be called Miz, or the change in my hair, but I want to be your wife, as much as I can.

"I can invite Julie over to visit you, but I don't want them to have any part of her anymore. Besides, if I don't have to spend as much time getting ready for work, I'll have more time for you." The last was stated with a hungry look.

"What made you think of the South of France?" I asked as I leaned in to nibble on her ear.

"Because I've always wanted to go there and if you haven't already thought about it, I would like to honeymoon there," she answered while trying to mold as much of her body as possible, against as much of mine as she could.

I pondered her choice and decided that I would buy her a villa as a surprise wedding present.

"Sam," I began. "I need you to get Julie and meet me in the playroom. She needs to repay me for a few things. Then if she satisfies me, I'll give you the proof you need to know that I'm not delusional about my assertions. That way you can analyze me properly. Have her wear nothing but the three-piece swimsuit I picked out, but leave off the bottoms, and wear only the top and the waist wrap. Also, find a toe ring. If you don't have something suitable, I'm sure you can find one in Jessie's room. The ring will be part of the proof so, don't forget."

With that she trotted upstairs, while I headed for the playroom, giving Hal a few instructions on the way. An hour and a half later my masseuse, having given me the best massage of my life, was finishing the experience with a very 'happy ending'. When we could breathe again, she climbed down from the table and proceeded to give me a table shower with hot washcloths. I was in Heaven.

After the shower, I was covered in warmed blankets and was tempted to take a long nap right on the table, but Julie leaned over and gave me a gentle kiss. "Was that satisfactory Mr. Smith?"

"Julie, that was beyond fantastic. Best of my life." I replied honestly, then slid off the table and started across the room.

"Come," I commanded, not looking back. I knew she'd follow.

I led her into the treasure room. "We have to clean this up. I want to spend the rest of the evening, and night doing naughty things to you. Most of which will involve chains."

We started returning things to the chest, I kept things separated the way Sam had laid them out. One, it made things easier to find but mostly it was faster. I placed my journals on top and shut the lid.

When I saw the expression on Julie's face, I knew it bothered her that I was leaving the journals there. "You wanted to continue reading the journals, didn't you?"

"No, Sir. They're none of my business, but Sam would very much like to continue studying them."

I smiled. "Sam will have plenty of opportunity to study them, but not until tomorrow. In the meantime, go back upstairs and pack for home. Send the bag down in the elevator. Then, if you would please send Sam back to me, I would be appreciative."

When Sam returned in the same outfit that Julie left in I had to admire her all over again. She didn't seem to have noticed the changes she had undergone.