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Act XII

***

Trisha was sitting in the staff lounge, enjoying a cold diet Dr. Pepper when a guard walked up to her, holding a bouquet of mixed roses and a small box of See's© candies. The guard was Steve, the one that she had an unfortunate initial run-in with.

“Excuse me, Miss Trisha, I came here to apologize to you," he began, turning a very bright shade of red from embarrassment. “I had no idea who you were when I used you and then shocked you so I thought I had better ask your forgiveness." He handed her the bouquet and candy, stepping back one step away from her afterward.

“Um, you know, now I feel bad about shocking you back," she stated, setting the items on her table.

“I had it coming, Miss Trisha. Larry had told me not to charge my gloves before we entered your room. I was just being a total asshole." Steve retorted. “I ... I heard you had a boyfriend back in Hawaii. Would he be mad if I offered to buy you a dinner to finish making amends?"

“Um, I don't think so, as long as you understand you're getting no sexual favors from me afterwards," she replied, giving him a stern look.

“I understand and I won't ask, either."

“OK, you can pick me up at eleven PM, then. I'll be waiting for you in my room, suite 319."

Steve nodded and left slowly, seeming just a little bit quieter since he was told there would be no fun for him after dinner. Trisha looked down at her ring, thinking of Mace for a moment. She was sure he wouldn't get mad at her, since this was a peace offering from somebody, a co-worker of sorts that she wouldn't see again. While Trisha was musing, Master sat down with her again.

“Patricia, would you instruct me in how to treat a lady properly?" he asked, giving her puppy-dog eyes. “I asked Mr. Bischer for a name this afternoon so he gave me the name Robert William Cannon. He said he couldn't instruct me in how to treat ladies, so I'm asking you."

“Well, Mr. Cannon, I might be able to help you except you'll need to find a lady to assist us." Trisha replied.

“I've already done that, Patricia. Claudette has volunteered her services to me." The equine female almost fell out of her chair from that news.

“Did she really say she would help?" Trisha asked, still not so sure of this now.

“Yes, I did," the tigress replied as she sat down with them. “Mr. Cannon asked me very politely so I said I would help out as much as I could." She smiled as she added, “Besides, he reminds me of my old employer in a way."

***

They all left the lounge, headed for Mr. Cannon's private studio, very similar to the one used by Chuck Waddell. The girls had detoured by Costuming to get a blouse, skirt and underwear for Tigre, so she could play the part to the hilt.

Trisha had Tigre stand by the bed, acting like any normal girl would. She then got Mr. Cannon to approach her slowly, giving her a looking over. He had been given a little coaching so he wasn't totally lost. He slowly, gently put his arm around her waist, kissing her gently on the cheek. Putting his other hand in the small of her back, he gently pulled her to him, kissing her on the lips this time.

“You're a very pretty woman," he commented, stroking her head and back very gently. “You're fur is so soft and silky, Claudette, I love the feel of it under my hands."

“Would you like to feel more of it?" she asked in a demure voice, kissing him on the neck. This made him shudder with delight.

“If I may, please?" he asked, kissing her back, not too forcefully. She began to unbutton her blouse, giving him little peeks of her chest fur.

Trisha was communicating by implant to him, giving him direction. She gave him an idea of what would work with most chimera women.

“You are such a tease, sweetheart," he said, giving her a smile. “Would you like some help off with that blouse?" Tigre nodded so he finished unbuttoning her blouse, never taking his eyes off of her for a moment. He slowly slipped her blouse off her shoulders, making sure to touch her softly while doing this. The tigress slipped off her skirt, pulling Robert by the hand onto the bed.

“Let's get to know one another," Tigre suggested, giving him a kiss on the lips. “You don't just jump into bed with a lady and expect to go at it right away. She expects you to cuddle with her for a bit first."

Robert got himself comfortable, pulling the feline close to him. “Well, I'm a Golemtech Mk. 22 design ..." Tigre cut him off with a finger over his mouth.

“No, a woman wants to know what makes you smile, what makes you laugh, things like that. Do you like to take walks on the beach?" she asked, smiling at him slightly. He really looked a lot like her former employer/owner. She was deeply in love with him and it hurt her when he married a human instead of her. She hated to admit it but she still loved him, even after his mean stunts such as forcing her to have sex with him when he came home drunk.

“I like to swim in our salt water pool," Robert finally offered up, giving her a kiss. “It's been maintained at a particular pH level so you can open your eyes underwater and it won't sting at all."

“OK, guys, I'm leaving now." Trisha told them. “You two look like you have it under control." They both waved at her from the bed, Trisha letting herself out of Robert's suite.

***

The dark mare made her way to Costuming and Makeup, finding Ms. Ramirez busy sorting costumes back onto the clothing racks. She spotted Trisha, motioning for her to sit for a moment while she completed her work.

“So, what brings you here?" the older lady asked after hanging the last costume on a clothing rack.

“Um, I have a date with Steve, that guard that's buying me dinner to apologize to me." she proffered up. “I need something nice to wear, sine he's buying dinner in the main restaurant for me."

“OK, let me see you so I can get something that will fit," she asked, looking the dark mare over. “Are you a Brandon or an Indiana Mil-Tec?" she mused, nodding as she set out to find some clothes suitable.

“I'm a Brandon 87H," Trisha replied, smiling as the costumer brought her a nice black dress to wear.

“I should have guessed that," she said sheepishly. “You have hooves, not feet." After a few moments, she asked Trisha another question. “Did you dye yourself that color? It looks too even to me."

“Um, yeah, I did. My coat was stained badly by the conductive gel for VR. Why do you ask?"

“If you have an hour, our Makeup artists can dye you back to your real color, if you would like." Ms. Ramirez commented. Trisha smiled, thinking it would be nice to be a buckskin again.

“That would be real nice."

“Tell me, I heard you're self-owning. How does that feel?"

“It's hard to explain," Trisha told her. “I feel ... good inside, to know I'm my own person, not owned by anyone."

I guess that would make you feel good, to know that." Ms. Ramirez stated. “Do you think you can still do your job properly, being self owning?"

“Well, I don't see it as being a problem. I'm hoping I can encourage the other girls at Blue Hawaii to work towards becoming self-owning too."

Ms. Ramirez let Trisha look at several other dresses, the buffed mare finally picking out a maroon dress that was rather conservative. Dress in hand, she headed to Central Makeup for yet another dye job.

***

Mr. Waddell walked into Torment 241 to find Johann firmly attached to a training frame, naked except for what was left of his skivvies around his waist, covering his privates. He was still slumped down from Sarah's latest punch to the Solar Plexus.

“You better wise up, asshole! I'll just keep punching you in the pain centers until you tell us who's working with ya, ya jerk!" she shouted in his face, scaring him. With that said, Sarah landed a heavy blow to his ribs, causing him to scream in pain. “You don't know what torture is, ass-wipe! I intend to leave you a babbling idiot by the time I'm through with you!" She made him look up at her as she said in a malevolent tone, “I'll give you everything they gave me when I was a POW and that includes jamming the biggest dildo we have around here up your ass ... dry!"

That made him get a very scared look on his face, to know she was a former POW that he had fucked with. He knew she would take great pleasure in torturing him now.

“Do you need more hardware, hon?" Linda asked, playing with her whip in her hands.

“Yeah, I need those gloves Mr. Waddell just brought in."

Chuck helped her to put the gloves on, getting the plugs hooked up properly. He helped her to program them, making sure she knew how they worked.

“Listen, lady, I don't know who pays my wages, see? I'm paid in cash by this black canid that meets me ..." Linda cut him off.

“That's bullshit and you know it! You know exactly who you work for! Spit it out or Sarah's gonna shock the hell out of you!"

“I'm tellin' ya, I don't know any names!" He started to say something else when his cell phone rang. Linda clamped her hand over his mouth while Chuck answered the call.

“Hello, this is Chuck," he said, trying to be nonchalant about it. There was silence on the other end for just a few moments.

“Um, is this Chuck Waddell, that runs Blue Hawaii?" the man on the other end asked.

“Yeah, this is. Whom am I speaking to?" Chuck asked in return.

“I'm Brett, a friend and employee of Mace Alexander. I was looking for a Johann. Is it possible you have him in your custody?"

“Yeah, I have him. He was just going to tell me who he works for."

“Don't worry, Chuck. I have his boss right in front of me." That made Chuck feel better, knowing now they had most likely busted a chimera smuggling ring.

“Listen, Brett, if you bring them to Blue Hawaii, Harold at the gate will guide you to an elevator. I'll wait until you get here to call the cops on them once I get the names of the crooked cops."

“Sure, it would be a pleasure." Brett responded. “See you in about a half an hour."

Chuck then turned to the girls, smiling widely.

“Go ahead and do what you want to our former employee, just don't kill 'em or mark 'em."

Sarah smiled, knowing where she would start. She grabbed a big handful of his left nipple, giving it a generous twist as she said, “Gloves, shock level three, on." He screamed out in reply, which was useless since the rooms were very soundproof. She then grabbed the other one, shocking him again.

***

Trisha was looking at herself in the mirror, smiling at the buckskin mare looking back at her. It had been a while since she had looked normal and the makeup artists at Blue Diamond had done an impressive job of making her look like a natural buckskin once again. She adjusted the top of her dress, thinking she should get a dress similar to this once she returned home. She was wearing matching CZ earrings and a necklace, accenting her coloration nicely. While she was busy brushing her mane out again, there was a polite knock at the door. She opened the door only to be surprised by Mace standing at her door, smiling at her.

“Mace, what are you doing here?" she said, her jaw hanging open in surprise.

“Well, I heard where you were hiding so I came to see you and take you to dinner instead of Steve taking you," he said, taking her in his arms, hugging her tightly. “I really thought something had happened to you and you were gone for good, sweetheart," he said, trying to keep from crying.

“I missed you too," she said, tears streaming down her cheeks.

“Excuse me, Mr. Alexander, will that be all?" Steve asked, who was standing off to one side.

“I think we have things under control here. Thanks for showing me to Trisha's room." Steve nodded, turning to leave quickly.

“How did you know Steve wanted to take me to dinner?" she asked, looking at her lover questioningly.

“I asked at the front desk for you and Steve was asked to escort me. He apologized up and down for hurting you and kept begging for my forgiveness once he found out who I was." was Mace's reply.

“Well, are we going to dinner?" Trisha asked, he stomach growling loud enough to make her lover laugh.

“I think we had better get you some food, Trisha. You seem quite starved right now."

***

Sarah and Linda were startled by the door to Torment 241 being opened, turning to see Billy Kilanea being led in by Brett and a lioness marching a familiar black canid in front of her. The feline femme had her claws poised right over the rottweiler's jugular vein on the left side of his neck. Cruiser was with them, smiling widely.

“Mr. Waddell?" Cruiser asked, giving him a warm handshake.

“That would be me. Are you Brett?" he asked, the biker pointing over to his associate in reply.

“I'm Brett," the man with a limp replied, giving Chuck a warm handshake. “This is Cruiser, an old friend of mine and the lovely lady is Michelle Norton, a former employee of Mr. Billy Kilanea, our chief smuggler."

“Nice to meet you, Miss Norton." Chuck said out of courtesy.

“Miss Norton said she would be glad to help us extract the names of Billy's police and California connections, once we mentioned to her he was smuggling chimeras." Brett informed Chuck.

“Well, I'm not sure we need her help, since we have two very experienced ladies right here, just waiting to work them over." Chuck admitted. That was when Miss Norton spoke up.

“Sir, would it be possible that you might have some work for me here, since I'm sure Billy's bar and banquet hall will be shut down by the authorities." the lioness asked.

“You know, can you cook for a big crowd? I'm looking for a head chef for my performers right now." the boss replied.

“I'm a chimera, Sir. I can learn anything you can throw at me, as long as I have a good instructor." Michelle stated. “I'm very good with cooking big meals for groups of up to forty. Would you like to give me a try? I seem to be available right now." She gave Billy a heavy cuff on the back of the head. “My current employer it appears will be going to jail very soon."

“OK, I can have my line chef that used to do the performer's cafeteria train you. Would you please stick around while we get some information out of these lads?"

“OK, I'll just sit over there while you gentlemen extract the names you need. If you need help, just let me know."

***

Several hours had gone by and Billy had given up the names of the crooked cops, enabling a policeman that was standing by to put out an all points bulletin for their arrest. The men still hadn't given up their California connections, though. Finally Michelle offered her help.

“You know, Chuck, I've had enough of these two." she stated. Walking up to them, she unsheathed her claws on her right hand. “Billy, dear, you've paid me less than minimum wages for over two years, now. You've made me sleep in the back room on a hard cot and you've treated bowser boy over there waaay better than me, giving him blow jobs to keep him happy." She put her claws under his balls, pulling up on them slightly. “Now tell me who your contacts are or I'll yank your balls right off of you and feed them to you. Do you understand me?" She gave an extra tug on them to reinforce her position.

“You wouldn't do it with a cop standing right there," Billy stated, pretty sure in that thought.

“I didn't see a thing. He must of had an accident or something" the policeman said to nobody in particular, turning away from them. He didn't care for smugglers either.

“Damn straight I'll rip yer crown jewels right off of ya, Billy boy," she said, pulling up very firmly. The crotch of his pants could be heard tearing as he tried his best to stand on his tiptoes just before he screamed out a blood-curdling cry of pain.

“All right! I'll talk!!" he said in a high pitch, trying to get away from Michelle's claws. There was some blood starting to drip on the floor, Billy's blood. He was now more than happy to share who his California contacts were, allowing the police to call and give the San Diego authorities that information.

“OK, get them down and I'll have my med-techs fix up Billy before he leaves here," Chuck stated, giving Michelle a hug. “I think I'll like having you work for me." He then gave Linda and Sarah a hug too.

***

Trisha was snuggled up against her lover, enjoying the feeling of his warm body next to hers. She could see the night sky through the window of the suite he had secured for the night, making it seem so serene.

Why did her life seem so complicated to her at times? What did she do that prompted people to kidnap her and bring her to this place, trying to pass her off as some other chimera? All that really mattered to her was her relationship with Mace and spending the next twenty-five months at Blue Hawaii to satisfy her contract. After that, she could leave with Mace and go wherever they wanted to, nobody telling her what she could or could not do.

The hunting was good in Minnesota from what she had heard and it was also a pro-chimera state. That would be a good place for them to move to and set up a business. The four of them making a new start in a new state and a new business. That sounded good to her.

“Trisha, are you asleep?" Mace asked quietly, not moving to disturb her.

“No, I'm still awake. Did my tail give me away again?" she asked sleepily.

“Yeah, it did, honey. What's bothering you?" He rolled over to see her better, giving her a kiss on the cheek.

“Um, I was just thinking about us possibly moving to Minnesota, dear. I hear the hunting is very good there and I thought we might also do fishing trips in the off season." she suggested. She was also thinking how nice this was, just snuggled up against each other. It felt real nice to her, not needing him to make love to her, just having him be with her, beside her, keeping her warm ...

“Yeah, that would be good, fishing trips in the off season. You know, I like to fly fish myself." He smiled at her, looking at her contented appearance.

“I don't know how to fly fish, sweetheart. Would you teach me?" she asked, nuzzling against him.

“Yeah, as long as you like standing in freezing water all day long," he said, smiling just slightly.

“Standing in the freezing water?" she blurted out, looking to see if he was kidding her.

“Well, we would have to get you a pair of waders that would work for you," he suggested, putting his arm over her body, pulling her closer to him.

“There's a place online that caters to equine chimeras, sweetie." she told him. This felt so good to her, just to be close to one another ...

“OK, we'll have to check it out later. We better get some sleep, though, since we have an 8:10 takeoff time in the morning."

“Um, I didn't think we were leaving that early," she commented, thinking she needed to tell Tigre what time they were leaving. “What time do we need to leave here?"

“We have a chopper picking us up at 7:00 and he's taking us right to the ramp where my 707 is waiting." he proffered up.

“You have a 707?" she asked, her jaw dropping in shock.

“Well, yeah. I've had it for a while but it took me 4 years and a few million dollars to get it flight-worthy again. I usually charter it out for passengers or light freight work, though."

“That must have cost a fortune to fly here!" she blurted out, thinking about the fuel costs at the moment.

“It wasn't too bad," he responded. “I found some freight at the last minute that needed to come to Los Angeles. You know, you had better get hold of Tigre, honey." he suggested.

Trisha called the front desk, since they would know where she was. After a few moments, Tigre answered the phone.

“Hi, Tr ... Trisha. Wha ... what do you wuh ... want?" she asked breathily, her voice sounding slightly strained or distracted.

“Are you all right?" Trisha asked, thinking something might be wrong.

“Yuh ... yeah, I .... I'm fine ..." she replied, her breathing sounding very fast and deep.

“What's going on?" the mare asked, hoping she wasn't in trouble.

“Wuh ... well, Robert has .... me hooked up to a p ... puh ... padded tuh .... table and he's ki .... kissing and touching muh ... me everywhere."

“Are you strapped down hard to that table?"

“Nuh ... no, I'm ... ungh ... not, sweetie. He's got bruh ... breakaway clips on ... muh ... my wrists." Tigre finally got out.

“So, you're safe, then?"

“Oh, yeah ... Robert is buh ... being a .... guh ... gentleman, sweetie. He wouldn't luh ... let me do thuh ... this without the c ... cl ... clips, for my puh ... peace of muh ... mind."

“Well, we're leaving at 7:00 in the morning, Tigre. Be out front to meet us, please?"

“Oh ... OK, then ... I ... I'll be ready ..." she replied, then moaned real loudly. Trisha then heard the phone being hung up on the other end.

***

“Rob ... Robert, please make love tuh ... to me," the tigress finally stammered out after her 'torturer' hung up the phone for her, looking at him still laying beside her, still playing with her right nipple very gently. “Yuh ... you've got me all huh ... hot and buh ... buh ... bothered," she added, feeling a mini-orgasm wash over her, making her shudder with delight.

“I'm just amazed at how you respond to such gentle touches," he retorted, licking his finger and playing with her left nipple, rubbing the areola in circular motions, teasing the right nipple with his tongue. “Do you think you're ready?"

“P ... pl ... please!?! she finally blurted out, giving him a pleading look.

“I did promise I would make love to you," he stated, giving her a sly grin as he began to mount her. Tigre smiled, knowing her frustration of the last three hours was finally going to be taken care of.

“Shuh ... Shut up and guh ... get that thing ... in ... Mmmmmmmm ... Oooooohhhh," she murred, the feeling of his tool penetrating her brought her to another mini-orgasm but not the epic one that would claim her in a just few moments.

***

“Tigre sounded like Robert was driving her crazy for some love," Trisha noted sleepily, yawning wide as she hung up the phone and turned back to her lover. “Hold me? Please?" she asked, kissing Mace lightly on the lips.

“Sure, sweetheart." he replied. Holding her gently, listening to her slip off to sleep. Closing his eyes, he joined her in a short night of rest.

***

The wake up call came at 6 am, rousing Trisha before Mace even stirred. Grabbing the handset, she answered the call.

“Trisha Pollard," she said sleepily, rubbing her muzzle to wake up.

“This is Captain Reynolds. Mr. Alexander asked me to wake him up this morning. I do hope I have the right room, after all." the man replied.

“Um, this is his ... girlfriend." she retorted. She didn't really know where she stood with the man in bed with her. “I'll get him up for you."

“Is that our wake up call?" Mace asked, shaking his head to clear it a bit.

“Yeah, I guess. It's a Captain Reynolds calling for you." She smiled, giving Mace the receiver.

“Mace," he said into the receiver, still trying to wake up.

“You asked me to call you, Sir." the man stated.

“Uh, yeah, Tim, thanks," he said, getting his feet off the bed. “We'll all be ready when you get here."

Trisha was already out of bed and standing, doing some stretches when Mace walked up behind her. He put his arms around her waist, pulling her close, kissing her cheek.

“I missed you," he said, nuzzling against her cheek.

She turned around, putting her arms around him, hugging him fiercely.

“I was so afraid I would never feel your arms around me again," she blurted out, trying to keep from crying. “don't ever let me go," she begged, almost crushing him with her strength.

“Trisha, you're squeezing me too hard," he told her, letting out a sigh when she relented, letting up on the pressure.

“I'm sorry, I just felt so ... lost without you," she proffered up, kissing him on the chin.

“I missed you too but based on what time it is, we had better get a move on it." Mace pointed out, starting to get dressed.

“Mace, did you bring some clothes for us?" she asked, giving him a concerned look.

“Yeah, I brought some casual clothing and your ID's for both of you," he replied, indicating the luggage he had brought with him.

Trisha fished through the bag, finding some underwear, some jeans and a knit top for her along with some similar clothing in Tigre's size. Trisha picked up the phone, dialing the front desk. Just about the time the desk phone started ringing, Mace answered the door and let a very naked Tigre into their suite.

“The front desk told me where you were," the tigress proffered up, taking the clothes offered by the buckskin mare. She took them into the bathroom, putting them on quickly. Upon her reappearance, she gave them a crooked smile. “I still have these things on," she said, holding up her arms to show them that she still had cuffs locked on with breakaway clips still attached. Her ankles still had cuffs locked onto them, too.

“OK, I still have my keys," Trisha stated, trying hers only to find her keys wouldn't work in the locks.

“Can I be of help?" Robert asked from the doorway, smiling at the situation. “She lit out of my bedroom too fast for me to get the locks open. They're not keyed to the brothel's locks so I keep them in my studio."

“Robert, why didn't you tell me about this?" the tigress asked, giving him a very sensual kiss.

“You didn't give me a chance," he replied, handing her a key on a fob. “Go ahead and get ready, everyone. I was told by my people that a helicopter is on final approach to the island. Mr. Alexander, I would guess that's your ride."

***

A guard came to guide them out to the heliport, a rather large pad located on the east side of the sex resort. Robert and Glenn were waiting near a cart brought out to them, a simple continental buffet with cups they could take with them. Dr. Wilkins was waiting with them, looking rather sheepish.

“I really can't tell you all just how sorry we are that this whole thing happened," Glenn stated to the group. “I guess we really need to rethink how we obtain our performers and more importantly, how we treat them here." He looked at the ladies as he continued. “It seems these two have had an extreme effect on our performers here, to the point that we will be sending our tamers to Blue Hawaii for training."

Dr. Wilkins stepped forward, holding three small items in his hands.

“Um I guess I should give these to you," he said sheepishly, handing Trisha the devices in his hands. “I'm going to guess that you will dispose of them properly."

“I can do that for you," she replied, taking them from him. It felt very good to think she would take them out of commission personally.

“I hope the next time we meet will be under better circumstances," Robert stated, shaking Mace's hand and then kissing the girls.

Everyone said their final goodbyes, took their breakfast snacks and got into the helo, finally taking off for the airport and Mace's waiting jet.

***

“Trisha, what are those things?" Tigre asked once they were in the air and headed for LAX, looking at the small boxes the femme equine had in her possession.

“They're control boxes," Trisha replied. “They can be used to gain access to your processor programming and make you download it to a computer, make you take an upload, make you sleep for a specified period of time, check your CID code, test your RFID and transmitter strength and a few real nasty things. Here, let me show you how it will display your CID."

“Trish, how do you know how to use one of those?" the tigress asked, knowing she didn't have a clue how they worked. This caused the filly to stop and look at the striped femme in confusion.

“Um, I'm not sure ..." she replied, hesitantly. Tigre was right; she was sure she had never been trained in the use of it but she knew all the codes by heart. This scared her momentarily, wondering just where the training had come from. Trish keyed in code 1001 and held it over her own left hand, the display showing her CID plainly. Holding it over Tigre's left hand, the tigress' CID was displayed.

“Trish, what kind of bad things can they do?" the tigress asked, now curious about it.

“Well, for starters, they can make you forget what's happened for up to twelve hours, based on conditions." was her reply. “They can make a delayed sequence of events happen, such as make you wait until a certain time then put you to sleep and reset you or make you sleep for a certain number of hours. It has to be preprogrammed by computer to do fancy things but simple commands can be done without connecting it to a network."

“Trisha ... that is ..." That thought make Tigre shudder.

“I know what you're thinking but it doesn't matter, these babies are being destroyed right now."

Trisha took the one in her hands, the Brandon-manufactured device, effortlessly prying it open with her bare hands. She yanked out the circuit board, breaking it into small pieces which she threw out of the little window opening in the door to fall into the Pacific ocean. She then followed suit with the other two boxes.

“Trish, my ex-owner had one of those," Tigre stated, giving it some thought. “He had it in his nightstand by his bed. Is it possible he might have used it on me?"

“Did you ever sleep with him and wake up the next morning, feeling out of sorts, like you didn't dream the night before? Maybe missing a day?" Trisha knew what that hole in your memory felt like, even if it was just for fifteen minutes.

“You know ... yeah, I did have that happen a few times. I was always real sore the next day, too."

Trisha knew what he was doing; he was abusing Tigre then resetting her to cover it up. She didn't have the heart to tell her this information. What she didn't want was for Tigre to go looking up her ex-owner and killing him, getting herself killed in the process or worse, having her mind wiped and then being sold to a brothel.

“Tigre, I don't think ..." The tigress cut her off.

“No, I suspected he might have done that to me, sweetie." Tigre said wistfully. “I loved him but it was clear at the end he was just using me as a fuck toy. Sometimes he would come home drunk and barge into my room, wanting sex. I hated when he was like that because he would just ... use me. That's when I bought my ownership from him and then he got mad about it, letting me go. He later tried to get me to come back but I just couldn't, especially after he married another woman while I was still working for him. She hated me for some reason that she wouldn't share with me. Maybe he was using her instead of me when he got drunk."

“Trisha, I have something to tell you," Mace said hesitantly, looking back at her from the co-pilot's seat. “When I paid Chuck for your ownership, Chuck made me take one of those boxes. He made Ed take one too."

“He did what?!?" Trisha blurted out, not sure if she heard that right. She adjusted her headset, which was meant for a human and motioned for him to say what he had said again.

“I said, Chuck gave me one of those boxes and the instructions on how to use it." Mace repeated. “I took the battery out of it before I got home that next day. Chuck said it was required by Blue Consortium regulations that he give me one. Trust me, I would never think of using it after I read that manual. I was appalled by code 4094, especially. Ed feels the same way about it."

“Mace, sweetie, where is that box right now?"

“It's in my small gun safe, the one I gave you the combination to." he replied. “The box is in the top drawer with the spare magazines and the battery is in an envelope in the bottom drawer with the spare trigger locks."

“Didn't you tell me once that you have a friend that's into hacking electronics?" Trisha asked, thinking about something important to her.

“Yeah, I have a friend that used to illegally reverse engineer electronic stuff for the Japanese." Mace admitted.

“I would like him to take a look at the box and engineer a counterveil for it." she stated. “We could sell it to all self-owning chimeras as a safeguard."

“Hell, I'll help fund the research," Tigre blurted out, knowing that she would like to have something like that too.

“OK, I'll call Keji Hasegawa this afternoon and set up an appointment with him." Mace stated. “If it means that much to you two, we'll go ahead and make it a reality."

***

Linda took another sip of her coffee, savoring its very intense flavoring. Danny had brewed up a private stock bean that he reserved for his closest friends, letting the trainers and a few performers know to swing by the bar this morning early.

“Dan, this is the best coffee I have ever tasted," Nadia stated, smiling with her eyes closed. She smelled the cup again, enjoying an aroma not found at the local coffee shops. “So, are you going to tell where you get this stuff?"

“Not a hope he'll tell," Lori Beth pointed out, putting a bit of cream in hers, much to Danny's dismay.

“We've been trying to get him to tell us for years now and he's just not telling." Linda finally proffered up. The bartender was making a motion like he was zipping his lips, trying to keep from smiling. “He brings it into the bar inside a plastic coated paper bag with no label. I've searched high and low and I cannot find this bean anywhere."

“Ya know, we could just tie him to a training frame and torture it out of him," Nadia offered up, looking at the bartender with an evil grin. “It's amazing what a feather can do in the hands of the right person."

“Uh, you ladies are kidding, aren't you?" Danny asked, looking just a little concerned. “I've heard nobody can keep a secret through a feather torture."

“You're right, Dan. I can get you to tell us anything we want to know with a feather," Tana pointed out. “You just as well tell us now, sweetie. You've kept this a secret far too long."

“Um, if I give all of you some coffee beans, a few pounds apiece, would you forget about the feather torture?" he asked, looking somewhat scared by the prospect of being attacked by a mob of sexy females armed with feathers.

“No, we want a name, Danny," Linda spoke up. “Give us a name or we'll just wait until you close the bar, then I'll let them drag you kicking and screaming down to Training 155 and give you a turn in a frame."

“You're not kidding, are you?" he asked, looking at the clock. It was 3:15 a.m. and they only had to wait until 4:00. This wasn't looking good at all. “I'll warn you that these beans aren't cheap at all."

“A name please?" Tana asked in a sweet tone, putting her finger under his chin, pulling him close to her. “All we want is a name. Give us a name and I'll arrange a night for you with all of us."

Danny looked at the four ladies that were staring at him, all of them having a predatory look in their eyes. These ladies meant business.

“OK, I get it at Joe's Coffees downtown. It's called Kona Colombian Extreme Dark Roast. I swear." he blurted out. “I gave up my secrets, so what do I get in return?"

“Well, since there's nobody in here, why don't you close up early and we'll all go up to Suite 533." Tana suggested. “It's on my free use pass."

Danny started falling all over himself to get the bar shut down just as fast as possible.

***