A YOUNG SUCCUBUS NAMED DELICIA by Michel Poulin - HTML preview

CHAPTER 32 – AN EMBARRASSING WITNESS

 

09:44 (California Time)

Tuesday, October 2, 1973

Offices of the Vice Squad, F.B.I.’s Los Angeles Division Suite 1700, Wilshire Federal Building

corner of Wilshire and Sepulveda Boulevards

Los Angeles, U.S.A.

Roger Fairfax, head of the Vice Squad of the F.B.I.’s Los Angeles Division, didn’t like at once the expression painted on the face of his boss, Division Director Robert Brown, when the latter walked in the large open office used by his squad. Brown was closely followed by a thin man whom Fairfax knew as being James McCord, one of the federal assistant prosecutors for the Los Angeles District. McCord had a leather briefcase in one hand as he walked with Brown towards Fairfax’ desk, finally stopping in front of it. Brown then spoke, his tone grave.

‘’You better get your agents to assemble here to listen to me: we just got some bad news.’’

A look from Roger was enough to make his four agents move from their respective desks and roll their chairs in a semi-circle on each side of their squad leader. Once that was done, Roger looked up at Brown.

‘’What happened, Boss?’’

‘’What happened is that the two wounded criminals we captured when we took down that snuff porn and kidnapping ring last June were just murdered, one in his hospital bed, the other in his cell. It happened that we were hoping for their live testimony in court to help nail the case against Donald Hurst, the multi-millionaire mogul we are accusing of being the true head of the ring.’’

Roger Fairfax, like his four agents, stiffened at that news: that criminal ring had been a particularly vicious and violent one which had cost the squad the life of one of its agents, Bernard Schiffer, along with the lives of two L.A.P.D. S.W.A.T. Team members.

‘’Someone was able to get at those two men, despite the protection put around them?’’

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‘’That’s right! Everything points to those being professional jobs, probably done by experienced hired killers and possibly with inside help.’’ Roger swore under his breath on hearing that.

‘’Killers who Donald Hurst could easily afford to hire, in addition to his present battery of high-flight lawyers. It is not hard to figure out his interest in having those murders committed, but making these killings stick to him will be much harder.’’

‘’It is not only those two murders which will be difficult to pin on Hurst now.’’ said James McCord. ‘’The whole case against him is now in jeopardy, thanks to the disappearance of those two potential witnesses. The documents we found in the lair of that kidnapping gang are now the only link between Hurst and the snuff porn and kidnapping racket you busted in June. Unfortunately, a good lawyer could argue about the legal value of those documents as proofs against Hurst, as they are by themselves only circumstantial evidence. We now have only one living person left who could help us prove that those documents were indeed inside the gang’s lair when we raided it: Miss Jennifer Woods, the stripper whose tip provided us the crucial info needed to catch that gang.’’

Special Agent Janet Coleman, one of Roger’s agents and the youngest and least experienced member of the squad, on top of being its only female member, looked with alarm at McCord.

‘’Then, that means that Jennifer Woods is also in danger of being murdered. We should put her under police protection at once.’’

Robert Brown gave her a disillusioned look in response.

‘’Don’t forget that the two men just murdered were under police protection, Agent Coleman. Remember as well that we nearly lost Miss Woods in June, when someone inside the L.A.P.D. leaked to that criminal gang the fact that she had contacted us with information. You are however correct about the need for us to ensure her safety until Hurst’s trial next month. The question is: will she accept our protection? Miss Woods has already proven to be quite a character.’’

‘’Well, she certainly can be stubborn when she wants to, on top of having plenty of guts, sir.’’ recognized Janet. ‘’So, what do we do with her?’’

‘’We approach her and, at a minimum, we will warn her of the danger she is now in. Maybe that will be enough by itself to make her ask herself to be put under our protection, something which would simplify things greatly.’’

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‘’Then, I will put Janet and Nathan in charge of warning her and gaining her cooperation, sir.’’ said Roger Fairfax, making Brown nod his head.

‘’Do that, and quickly! We don’t want some assassin to get to her first. Keep me appraised of what will be her answer about our offer of protection. This is now your top priority case. I really want that Hurst bastard to end his days in jail. On this, I wish you good luck, lady and gentlemen.’’

The five agents of the Vice Squad were silent as Brown and McCord left their office. Then, Roger Fairfax pointed an index at Janet Coleman and Nathan Chomsky.

‘’You two, find Jennifer Woods at once to warn her and offer her our protection. If you need backup, don’t hesitate to ask. Now, get on it!’’

‘’Yes sir!’’ replied in unison Janet and Nathan before getting up and rolling their chairs back to their desks. Once at her desk, Janet quickly sifted through her address book, finding Jennifer Woods’ address and telephone number within seconds.

‘’Here it is! Her apartment building is on Colton Street, just west of Chinatown. At this hour of the day, she is either sleeping after a night of strip dancing at the ‘Pussycat Cabaret’ strip club, or she is attending classes at the UCLA. Let me call her apartment first.’’

Forming the number she had for Jennifer Woods, Janet then waited impatiently as the telephone rang at the other end of the line.

‘’Come on, Jennifer! Pick it up!’’

To her frustration, Jennifer’s Code-a-Phone Model 700 tape answering machine took the call after four rings.

‘’Hello, this is Jennifer Woods’ apartment. Unfortunately, I am not available at this time. Please leave a message after the signal and I will be happy to call you back later… BIIIP!’’

‘’Hello Jennifer! This is FBI Special Agent Janet Coleman: I need to speak to you urgently about your personal safety. If I don’t meet you before you hear this, please call my office number at once.’’

Putting down her receiver, she then gave a concerned look at Nathan, who had listened on to her side of the call.

‘’She’s not answering at her apartment. Either she is sleeping too soundly to hear her telephone or she is attending her classes at the UCLA.’’

‘’But the UCLA campus is huge. How are we going to find her there?’’

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‘’She told me once that she was studying photography and film. That should narrow down our search quite a bit. Let’s go down to the garage and get our squad car.’’

‘’Then I’ll drive: I know Los Angeles much better than you.’’ replied Nathan. ‘’If we don’t find her at the university, we will then do a stop at her apartment, just in case. If that fails, we still can catch her in late afternoon, when she will go to the ‘Pussycat Cabaret’ to do her nightly gig.’’

‘’Sounds like a plan!’’

Going down to the FBI garage in the basement, the two agents signed for an unmarked squad car and, with Nathan Chomsky at the wheel, drove out and onto Wilshire Boulevard. Thankfully, the Wilshire Federal Building was situated only a bit more than 1,500 meters away from the sprawling campus of the UCLA and the pair arrived at the university in less than ten minutes. Seeing a university police patrol car, Nathan waived at it and stopped side-by-side with it at a street corner, flashing his badge at the university cop.

‘’Special Agent Chomsky, FBI. We need to urgently find a student who is studying photography and film.’’

‘’Is that student in trouble with the law, mister?’’ asked the cop, making Nathan shake his head.

‘’No! She is an important witness in a criminal case and we need to find her to ask her a few questions.’’

‘’Oh! In that case, you may possibly find her in the Broad Art Center Building, in the northeast corner of the campus, on Charles E. Young Drive North. If you will follow me, I will guide you to that building.’’

‘’Thank you! You are very helpful.’’

The university patrol car then made a U-turn and sped northward, followed by the FBI squad car. The two vehicles stopped after a mere minute later in front of the large building occupied by the Broad Art Center. Politely declining the offer of the university cop to accompany them, the two federal agents then entered the building. Once inside the entrance lobby, they went to a sort of duty office near the entrance where a female clerk greeted them with a professional smile.

‘’Good morning, lady and gentleman! May I help you?’’

Both Nathan and Janet flashed their badges in response.

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‘’We are FBI Special Agents Chomsky and Coleman. We need to find urgently a photography student named Jennifer Woods. Would you be able to direct us to her class?’’

‘’Er, I am sorry but I don’t have detailed lists of class attendances here. However, I can make a building-wide announcement if you wish so.’’

‘’That would be perfect, miss. Just say that Jennifer Woods is requested at the main entrance, but don’t mention us.’’

‘’Oh my!’’ said the female clerk in a worried tone. ‘’Is she wanted for

something?’’

‘’No! She is just a witness in a criminal case, that’s all.’’

‘’Alright, then.’’

Grabbing a microphone and switching it on, the clerk spoke in it in a deliberate tone, her voice resonating through the building via a number of loudspeakers.

‘’MISS JENNIFER WOODS IS URGENTLY REQUESTED AT THE MAIN ENTRANCE OF THE BUILDING. I SAY AGAIN: MISS JENNIFER WOODS IS

URGENTLY REQUESTED AT THE MAIN ENTRANCE OF THE BUILDING. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION.’’

The clerk switched off her microphone before making a forced smile at the agents.

‘’It may take a couple of minutes…if Miss Woods is indeed in the building. You may sit and wait in one of the sofas in that corner.’’

‘’Thank you, miss.’’

Going to a comfortable-looking sofa, the two agents sat in it and started watching the people passing through the lobby. Janet Coleman smiled as she looked around her.

‘’This reminds me of my years of law study in Harvard. A university campus is a good place to meet people and make friends.’’

‘’…and meet less than friendly people.’’ replied Nathan. ‘’I met a bunch of white racists at the Kansas State University who were big on anti-Semitism. It eventually degenerated into a night encounter and fight in a dark corner of the campus.’’

‘’Oh? You didn’t get beaten up then, I hope?’’

Nathan smirked and briefly laughed at that.

‘’They were the ones who got beaten up. They had come as a group of five, hoping to overwhelm me in what was supposed to be a one-on-one fight, but I had brought my own backup team with me, made up of nine boys who hated racists and who

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had brought baseball bats with them. Those wannabe goons ended up in hospital that night.’’

‘’Good!’’ said Janet, smiling at that story.

Patricia Love heard the public announcement about Jennifer Woods as she was about to finish a class in night photography techniques. That announcement made her frown at once: Jennifer Woods was one of her two alternate identities, along with that of Sylvia Thorne, and few people outside of her evening job as a stripper knew that name, with even fewer people knowing that Jennifer Woods claimed to be a photography student at the UCLA. This had to be something serious. She however waited another three minutes, time for her class to be completed, before walking out of the classroom. Instead of going right away to the entrance lobby, Patricia went into the nearest female washroom and locked herself up in one of the toilet stalls. Waiting until nobody else was in the washroom, she then concentrated while activating her shape-shifting power. Her whole body started glowing faintly as she changed from a tall and beautiful teenager with long black hair and large blue-green eyes to an equally tall and beautiful young woman with red hair and green eyes. Leaving the toilet stall, she checked herself briefly in a mirror to make sure that she had morphed into the proper shape and face, then walked out of the washroom. A minute later, she was going down the main staircase of the building and stepped in the entrance lobby. The sight of the two FBI agents waiting for her convinced her at once that there probably was trouble ahead. Keeping a calm appearance, she walked briskly to the two agents, who got up from their sofa to greet her.

‘’Special Agents Coleman and Chomsky! To what do I owe your visit here?’’

‘’To a potential threat against you.’’ answered Janet Coleman. ‘’A deadly threat. We need to speak with you in private, inside our car.’’

‘’Uh, okay, but I want to stay here, on the campus: I have another class to attend in ten minutes.’’

‘’As you wish! Follow me!’’

The trio then walked out to the FBI squad car and sat in it before Janet spoke to Jennifer/Patricia from the front passenger seat.

‘’Jennifer, we got some bad news this morning. The two wounded gunmen we captured during that June raid on the snuff porn and kidnapping ring’s lair were murdered while in custody. Our bet is that Donald Hurst, the mogul implicated in that

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affair, paid professional killers to get rid of those two incriminating witnesses before his trial in November. This unfortunately leaves you as the sole witness who could validate the credibility of the documents we found in that gang’s den.’’ Jennifer/Patricia sobered up at once, as she understood too well the implications of Janet’s words. She had been the one who had told the rushing policemen where to find the documents left by the dead ringleader. If that Donald Hurst had taken the trouble and risk of tasking professional killers to get rid of two men held in police custody, then that bastard would certainly not hesitate to have a simple stripper killed. However, while she understood the anxiety of the FBI agents about her safety, she had many attributes and powers which made her extremely hard to kill, or even to hurt her in the least.

‘’Look, I appreciate your worries about me and I thank you for warning me about this, but I can take care of myself, truly. If you were planning to put me under police protection, then I must refuse.’’

‘’But, Jennifer, you may have a professional assassin hounding you.’’ insisted Janet. ‘’Alone by yourself, you may not live long against such a killer. Even if you could somehow evade that killer, Hurst will then most probably hire another killer or two to get rid of you.’’

‘’Then, why not get rid of that problem at the root and kill that Hurst bastard? You and I know that he is guilty as sin, right? Why waste all that time and money in a trial?’’

Jennifer’s reply shocked Janet into silence for a moment before she could regain her composure.

‘’Jennifer, you know perfectly well that we can’t do that. It would be illegal.’’

‘’Illegal, maybe, but it would be true justice rendered. Your justice system seems to have been made to profit the criminals, instead of the honest citizens.’’ Troubled by her words, Janet nonetheless tried again to change Jennifer’s mind.

‘’Are you sure that you don’t want our protection, Jennifer?’’

‘’Absolutely sure, Janet! Don’t worry about me: I will be still living and available to testify in November. Now, if you will excuse me, I have to return into class. Thank you for the warning.’’

Jennifer then opened her door and stepped out of the car, walking back inside the arts building at a brisk step, watched by the two FBI agents.

‘’Damn! What do we do now?’’ said Janet. Nathan answered her after a few seconds.

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‘’The only option left to us now: we provide her a discreet round-the-clock protection detail, whether she likes it or not.’’

17:50 (California Time)

Rented car, parked on 26th Street, near the ‘Pussycat Cabaret’ Santa Monica, Los Angeles

The beefy man waiting behind the steering wheel of his rental car, parked near the entrance of the ‘Pussycat Cabaret’ strip club, had a mean smile when he saw a stunningly beautiful young redhead approach the strip club on foot from the direction of the nearby Wilshire Boulevard. Comparing her face to that on a photo he kept on the front passenger’s seat, he took out from under his vest a snub-nosed .38 Special revolver and quickly screwed a silencer on its muzzle while keeping his eyes on his intended target. To his surprise, the young woman suddenly seemed to hesitate and slowed down her pace while staring at his car. Before the hired killer could figure out what could have attracted the girl’s attention, he saw her move her lips as if she was speaking to herself silently, while at the same time doing some strange motion with her right hand. The assassin didn’t have time to wonder further, as he suddenly saw a dark, black veil come down in front of his eyes. Putting down his revolver on the passenger seat, he instinctively passed his hands on his face, trying to take off what he felt was some kind of blindfold or hood. To his utter confusion, he found nothing over his face, while he could not even see his own hands, despite being able to feel them on his cheeks and forehead: he was blind! His confusion turning quickly into panic, the assassin blinked his eyes a number of times and shook his head violently, but still couldn’t see anything but utter darkness.

‘’No! This can’t be happening to me!’’

Now both frantic and desperate, the man opened his car door and stepped out of his vehicle: maybe something in his car had poisoned him. However, the fresh air didn’t do him any apparent good. Completely overwhelmed by this and giving way to uncontrolled panic, he took a few steps while shouting out loud.

‘’NO! NOOO!’’

The furious blast of a powerful horn suddenly made him pivot on the spot…just before a heavy delivery truck slammed into him at thirty miles per hour. The man was projected like a broken puppet on the pavement in front of the truck. The truck’s driver desperately

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stepped on his brake pedal but could not avoid rolling over the man’s head and upper torso before coming to a stop in the middle of the street.

Sitting in their unmarked squad car parked near the entrance to the strip club, Janet Coleman and Nathan Chomsky also saw Jennifer Woods approach on foot, carrying in her left hand the small suitcase she customarily used to bring the clothing she used for her strip shows. Both agents saw her hesitate and slow down while staring at a sedan car parked a mere two spots in front of the FBI car, something that made them concentrate their attention on that vehicle. Nathan suddenly saw something that made him shout a warning to Janet.

‘’I SEE A GUN!’’

‘’Shit! Let’s go!’’

Both federal agents were exiting their car in a hurry while reaching for their revolvers when they saw the man in the suspect car also come out. The man’s behavior however surprised them: instead of walking towards Jennifer Woods, he started shouting in a desperate tone while taking a few steps in the middle of the street.

‘’NO! NOOO!’’

Before the agents could react further, a big delivery truck speeding down the street blew its horn just before slamming into the man and then crushing him under its wheels. Shocked by that scene, Janet Coleman could not move for a few seconds, then ran towards the inert body splattered on the pavement. She quickly had to conclude that the man was dead, his skull crushed like a melon. She still took the time to check for a pulse as the hysterical truck driver came at a run and stood beside her, looking down with horror at the dead man.

‘’O MY GOD! WHY DID HE WALK LIKE THIS IN FRONT OF MY TRUCK? WAS HE CRAZY?’’

Janet gave him a sober look and tried to calm him down.

‘’Whatever was the reason for him to behave like that, this accident was not your fault, mister: you could not possibly have avoided him. I saw everything and will say so to the local police when they show up. The best you can do now is to go sit in your truck and wait for a patrolman. I will be here, ready to back up your testimony, so you shouldn’t get in any trouble over this.’’

‘’Jesus! I have driven a truck for twelve years now and I never hit anyone before. That poor schmuck is dead, right?’’

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‘’Very dead indeed! Now, go sit in your cab and smoke a cigarette to calm down, mister.’’

‘’Uh, alright, miss.’’

As the truck driver returned into his vehicle, Janet straightened up on her feet and looked for Jennifer Woods. She tensed up when she didn’t see her anywhere and was about to walk to the entrance of the strip club, intent on checking on the stripper, when Nathan came to her, a silenced revolver and a photo of Jennifer in his hands.

‘’Look what I found in that man’s car. This guy was actually a hired killer targeting our witness. I don’t know what happened to him to act the way he did, but it certainly happened at the best possible time for us…and for Jennifer Woods.’’ Janet looked with bitterness at the revolver and photo, then at the dead man on the pavement.

‘’So, our fears about Jennifer being targeted as a witness by this Donald Hurst bastard were justified after all. Could you stay here and call a police patrol car? I am going to go inside the club to make sure that Jennifer is okay.’’

‘’Understood!’’

Walking quickly to the entrance of the strip club, which was not open yet to the public, Janet knocked on the door, making a big, muscular man open it and look down at her with a neutral expression.

‘’Yes? What can I do for you, miss?’’

In response, Janet took out her badge and showed it to the doorman.

‘’FBI Special Agent Janet Coleman. I need to speak with one of your strippers who just walked in, Jennifer Woods. Don’t worry about her being arrested: I just want to ask her a few questions.’’

‘’Very well, miss: follow me!’’

Locking back the door behind Janet, the doorman then led her through a luxurious lobby, then down a long hallway, where a number of doors lined its walls. The doorman knocked on one of the doors, which sported a big paper star with ‘Mélanie d’Amour’, the stage name of Jennifer Woods, written on it.

‘’Miss Woods, a federal agent is here to see you.’’

‘’Let her in!’’ replied the muffled voice of the stripper. The doorman then opened the door and waved Janet in, then closed the door behind her, himself staying outside. Janet found herself in a small, typical artist dressing room. Jennifer Woods was sitting

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at a dressing table with a big mirror. She also happened to be completely naked. While Janet was a true heterosexual woman with no bisexual tendencies, the view of Jennifer’s perfect body and large, firm breasts still troubled her. Jennifer then got up to face her, revealing the fact that her groin was closely shaved.

‘’I suppose that you want to ask me questions about that crazy man who walked in front of a truck, Janet.’’

‘’Uh, yes! Have you seen that man before?’’

‘’Never!’’ answered truthfully Jennifer/Patricia. ‘’I hesitated for a moment outside because I thought for a moment that I saw a gun in his hands. Then he walked out of his car and started screaming loudly just before he stepped in front of that truck. Since there was apparently nothing left that I could do for him, I went into the club to prepare for my first act. Should I have stayed outside?’’

Janet thought over that for a moment before shaking her head.

‘’No! You did well to go inside the club: another assassin could have been lying in ambush as a backup to that dead man. By the way, we found a silenced revolver and a color picture of you in his car: that man was thus definitely a professional killer hired to get rid of you, probably on the orders of Donald Hurst.’’

Jennifer frowned at those words and threw a frustrated look at the FBI agent.

‘’And this would not be enough to finally throw that piece of shit in jail until his trial? He is obviously as guilty as Hell!’’

‘’I’m sorry, Jennifer, but the law doesn’t work that way.’’

‘’You mean that the law doesn’t work much of the time, especially when rich and powerful bastards like Hurst are involved.’’

Janet was tempted for a second to agree verbally with the stripper on that but checked her tongue in time.

‘’That is not for us to decide such things, Jennifer. Now, are you sure after this incident that you still don’t want our protection until Hurst’s trial?’’

‘’Very sure, Janet. However, if this could reassure you, I will temporarily live away from my apartment and go hide at the place of a good friend of mine.’’

‘’That is actually a good idea, Jennifer.’’ said Janet while starting to take out her notepad and pen. ‘’What is the name and address of that friend of yours?’’ Jennifer shook her head slowly in response.

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‘’I’m sorry, but I won’t tell you…or anyone else. Past events have shown me that you have one or more bad apples in your department or in the L.A.P.D. I won’t take the risk of having my friend’s place compromised by a crooked cop.’’ While her answer disappointed her a bit, Janet had to mentally agree that Jennifer was right about the danger of a corrupt cop leaking her friend’s address to Donald Hurst: despite a thorough investigation, the source of the leak that had compromised Jennifer to the snuff porn and kidnapping gang had not been found yet. Jennifer then walked slowly to Janet, a malicious smile on her lips, stopping in front of her and with her puffy nipples touching Janet’s chest.

‘’But enough about all this sinister hired killer’s business. Why don’t we forget about it for the moment and have some time together, Janet?’’ Jennifer/Patricia then activated her seductive powers to the full as her voice became mellow and her hands started caressing gently the agent’s cheeks.

‘’You are a beautiful young woman, Janet, and you need some good time to change your mind from your work.’’

Janet, who would have normally stepped back from her, suddenly found it impossible to resist her charms. Blood rushed to her brain and she trembled with desire as Jennifer started gently undressing her, licking her now erect nipples as soon as her bra was off. Janet then slowly raised her hands and started caressing and fondling the stripper’s fabulous breasts as Jennifer slipped one hand down the front of her panties and started to expertly rub Janet’s clitoris. Both women were soon exchanging French kisses while mutually rubbing their clitoris and fondling their breasts. Jennifer gently pushed Janet’s naked back against one wall of her lodge, where she held her until Janet climaxed explosively after a few minutes of rubbing, fondling and licking. With waves of pleasure dissipating gradually, Janet looked down with embarrassment at Jennifer, who had been kneeling in front of her to give her cunnilingus.

‘’I…I can’t believe that I let myself do this with you. If my boss would hear about this, he would fire me on the spot for homosexuality.’’

‘’Don’t worry about that, Janet.’’ replied Jennifer with a devilish smile. ‘’Nobody will hear about this from me. You will however be more than welcome to have more of this with me whenever you wish so…in a discreet manner of course.’’

‘’Uh, right! Let me get dressed up before my partner shows up here.’’ That took her a few minutes, after which she looked at Jennifer with concern.

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‘’Please do go hide at your friend’s place as soon as possible, Jennifer. I would hate to see anything happen to you.’’

‘’I will, Janet, I promise. Be careful yourself.’’

Janet nodded once, then walked out of the dressing room to go find her partner. She had to stop for a long moment in the hallway, her back to a wall, in order to go over her emotional confusion. She had always been a heterosexual woman and had never felt bisexual desires before, nor had she ever been attracted sexually to a woman. So, what had happened to her in that lodge? Despite some serious mental introspection, Janet was unable to find an answer to that. Both embarrassed and somewhat shameful, she resumed her walk out of the cabaret. Janet found Nathan Chomsky speaking with a L.A.P.D. police officer while standing over the body of the dead gunman, still sprawled on the street pavement. Another policeman was directing the traffic around the body, while two morgue technicians were just parking their van near the scene of the accident. Going to Chomsky, she let him finish describing what had happened to the policeman before asking him a question.

‘’What did you find on that dead gunman?’’

‘’Very little indeed, at least in terms of identity papers. Apart from over 800 dollars in cash, he only had a driver’s license in his pockets, plus some spare bullets for his revolver. He had no credit cards or other papers on him, except for this little piece of paper with what looks like a telephone number written on it.’’ Taking the small piece of paper offered by Nathan, Janet looked at the number on it and slowly nodded her head.

‘’It is a local Los Angeles number. It will be interesting to find out whose number it is. Did Martin and George see anything suspect around Jennifer Woods’ apartment building?’’

‘’Nope! In fact, they didn’t see her enter or exit her apartment at all this afternoon.’’

‘’Hum… Maybe she came to the club directly from some other place. By the way, Jennifer again refused our protection but told me that she was going to take refuge at a friend’s house until the trial is over. She refused to give me the address of that friend, though.’’

‘’I’m not too surprised by that: that girl is quite strong-headed. Well, let’s see what we will find about this assassin once back at the office: I would not be surprised to

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see that this driver’s permit is actually a fake one. We will definitely need to check his fingerprints: if he is a real pro, then he is liable to have some criminal record about him.’’

‘’Uh, do you have any idea about what could have happened to him to make him panic and scream like he did, Nathan?’’

‘’No! I never saw anything like this before. The important thing is that Miss Woods is safe…for the moment. I will call George by radio and tell him to relieve us here, while we go back to the headquarters to investigate this dead man.’’

Twenty minutes later, with the morgue’s van gone with the assassin’s body, their two partners arrived in their own unmarked car, allowing Janet and Nathan to leave for their headquarters. The two agents’ first move once there was to go brief their direct supervisor, Roger Fairfax, about the incident in front of the ‘Pussycat Cabaret’. Then, Nathan went to the morgue to collect the fingerprints of the dead assassin, while Janet looked up the telephone number found in the dead man’s pocket. What she found about it attracted a disgusted smirk on her lips. By the time that Nathan was back into their squad’s office, she had plenty to tell her partner.

‘’You will never guess whose telephone number that hit man had in his pocket, Nathan.’’

‘’Not Hurst’s number? That would be too nice to believe.’’

‘’Not Hurst’s telephone number, but one belonging to someone who has links with that rich bastard: one of his lawyers, James Parker Junior. Unfortunately, that Parker could always claim that our dead man was simply his client or was planning to ask for his services for some reason, so this is only circumstantial evidence at best.’’

‘’Maybe, but it certainly reinforces my opinion that Donald Hurst wants Jennifer Woods dead, and that before he goes to trial. We will certainly have to go question that lawyer about our dead assassin, but I doubt that he will give us anything but flowery bullshit.’’

‘’Maybe we shouldn’t go question that James Parker, Nathan. That would alert Hurst that we are on his trail concerning Jennifer Woods. Maybe we should simply tap his phone and see if he incriminates himself or Hurst by talking about our assassin.’’ Nathan thought those words over for a few seconds before nodding his head.

‘’That makes sense, Janet. The big question will be if a judge will accept to authorize a telephone tap on such a high-level lawyer on such flimsy evidence.’’

‘’Well, we won’t know until we try, no?’’

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‘’True! I will go ask our boss to arrange that tap. In the meantime, could you run these set of fingerprints I took from the body of our would-be assassin?’’

‘’Sure!’’

Analyzing the fingerprints from the dead man, then searching the FBI criminal databank for a match took Janet a good hour, as that job was still being done manually, with no computer available in 1973 to do that search. She however did find a match for them. Not surprisingly, the name she got was not the same as the one on the driver’s permit found on the dead man. She was looking at the two-page document she had just received by fax from the central FBI archives in Washington when a dejected Nathan sat back at his desk, which faced Janet’s desk.

‘’No luck with that tap warrant, Janet: the judge we contacted refused outright to permit a tap, saying that the link to that lawyer was too flimsy. So, did you find a match to those fingerprints?’’

‘’I sure did! Our dead man’s real name is Frank Buono, a suspected professional killer who has been investigated in the past for a number of murders but who was never convicted. He was rumored to work for the Gambino crime family and had a reputation for being a ruthless and efficient killer. Unfortunately, he always had top lawyers to help him out when needed. Also, the one witness who could have helped convict him in a past case conveniently disappeared before a solid case could be built against Buono.’’

‘’Why am I not surprised?’’ said sarcastically Nathan. ‘’Unfortunately, this leaves us with precious little to work with. The only thing we can do now is to continue to protect Jennifer Woods as discreetly and as best we can, while hoping that there won’t be any other attempts against her life.’’

‘’You are right, but protecting Jennifer won’t be easy: we don’t know where she is planning to hide until the trial, remember?’’

‘’Damn, you’re right! We will have to follow her tonight, when she will leave the strip club after her work, and find out where she goes. She may not like that if she discovers that we are following her around, but it is for her own good.’’

23:49 (California Time)

FBI unmarked car, parked near the ‘Pussycat Cabaret’

‘’There she is! Be ready to follow her on foot, Martin.’’

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‘’Got it!’’ Replied Martin Prendergast, a thin man with an unremarkable

appearance who could blend in in about any crowd. Waiting for Jennifer Woods to walk past their car on the opposite side of the street, Martin then stepped out of the FBI car and raised the collar of his trench coat while lowering the front of his hat. His face now in the shadow made from his hat, Martin crossed the street under the lights of the street lamps and neon advertising signs of the clubs and restaurants lining the street, then started following the young redhead from a fair distance. As per her known routine, she walked up to the corner of 26th Street and Wilshire Boulevard, turning at the corner with Wilshire. Martin knew that there was a bus stop one block down on the boulevard and assumed that she would take a bus to wherever she would go sleep tonight. Accelerating a bit his pace, he got to the street corner and gave a look from behind the corner of the building situated on the side of Wilshire Boulevard she had turned on. He was just in time to see Jennifer Woods disappear into a narrow, dark alley between two buildings. Intrigued by that, Martin hurried to that alley’s entrance, arriving there mere seconds after Jennifer. Glancing quickly inside the obscure alley, he saw nobody at first. A second, longer look then confirmed to him that Jennifer Woods was nowhere to be seen, despite the fact that there were no doors or windows through which she could have disappeared. Now mystified, Martin slowly entered the dark alley, his hand on the grip of his service revolver and with his senses on full alert. He walked down the whole length of the alley, carefully checking behind the few garbage bins and cans he passed by, only to come out empty. Confused and frustrated, he finally walked out of the alley and went to speak to George Adams through the open front right window of their car, now parked near the alley.

‘’She turned inside that alley and disappeared somehow while in it. I just can’t figure out how she did that.’’

George, who knew that Martin was no beginner at trailing suspects, pondered that for a moment.

‘’Damn! How are we supposed to protect her if we can’t even find out where she goes? The boss won’t be happy about this.’’

‘’Well, if he thinks that he can have better luck than us, he is welcome to try. Let’s turn around the block a couple of times, just in case she simply hid somewhere close by.’’

‘’Right! Get in!’’

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Despite crisscrossing the streets of the neighborhood for a good ten minutes, the two agents soon had to give up: Jennifer Woods was truly gone. Frustrated and

professionally humiliated, they had no choice left then but to return to their headquarters.

Inside the basement of her home in Westwood, to which she had teleported from inside the alley, Jennifer Woods/Delicia smiled to herself. With all the magical powers and spells she possessed, no normal human being would ever be able to trail her if she wished for her destination to be a secret. Her smile faded however when she thought about the danger threatening her. Even though one assassin had failed to kill her and got killed instead, she doubted that this Donald Hurst would now leave her alone because of that failure. In fact, he was most probably going to hire another killer or more to get rid of her, and this as soon as he learned about the death of the first assassin. Not being the kind to take a threat lying down, Delicia started thinking about how to return the favor to that rich bastard in a way that would not incriminate herself. It didn’t take long before an idea came to her mind, making her smile devilishly to herself. However, that idea would better be executed during the incoming weekend, when she would have more free time to execute her plan. As for tonight, she now needed to rest a bit. Going up to her bedroom, she undressed and went to sleep on her big king-sized bed. She actually needed much less sleep than a Human, along with little food and drinks, but still needed some hours of rest in order to be in full shape for her next day of studies at the UCLA, followed by a few hours of work at the ‘Pussycat Cabaret’ and possibly some sex here and there.

19:14 (California Time)

Wednesday, October 3, 1973

Luxury mansion, West Sunset Boulevard

Bel Air, Los Angeles

‘’A call for you, sir. It is Mister Parker.’’

Taking the receiver of the telephone brought to him by his butler on the patio of his outside pool, the obese, half-bald man in his fifties spoke in it as the butler put down the telephone on the small table at the side of his long chair.

‘’What do you have for me, Jimmy?’’

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‘’Some bad news, I’m afraid, Mister Hurst. The independent help I hired had an accident and failed to fulfill his contract. In fact, he is dead, killed by a truck last evening.’’

‘’WHAT? HE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A PRO!’’

‘’He was, sir, but it seems that luck was not on his side that day. The object of the contract is still intact as a result of this accident. What would you like me to do now, Mister Hurst?’’

The multi-millionaire mogul, angered by this piece of news, didn’t need to think much before answering Parker in a vehement tone.

‘’You find another contractor to do the job, and quickly! Hire more than one contractor if that could help. I am doubling the price for that contract. I want that problem gone by next weekend. Do you understand me?’’

‘’Uh, perfectly well, sir. I will take care of the arrangements right away, sir.’’

‘’Good! Keep me posted!’’ said Hurst before slamming down the telephone receiver. Taking a deep breath to calm down, Hurst then got up from his long chair and signaled to the very young teenage girl swimming naked in his pool to follow him before he walked back inside his luxurious mansion. The young tart wanted badly to become a Hollywood celebrity and was ready to do about anything for that. Well, he needed to change his mind now, while she needed to be reminded who could make her or break her.

16:38 (California Time)

Thursday, October 4, 1973

FBI unmarked car, parked near the ‘Pussycat Cabaret’ 26th Street, Santa Monica, Los Angeles

‘’I really wish that Jennifer would have given us the address of her friend, or better even, had accepted our protection. This business of having to wait for her every day to show up for work at the strip club is killing my nerves.’’ Nathan Chomsky, sitting behind the steering wheel of their unmarked car parked near the ‘Pussycat Cabaret’, smiled to Janet, who was sitting in the front passenger seat.

‘’Welcome to surveillance duty, Janet. It is certainly boring work but it is still important work. At least, Jennifer did indeed vacate her apartment on Colton Street, if we can go by the reports from George and Martin, something that makes her a more

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difficult target for any assassin trying to find her. In turn, that assassin has little choice but to stalk the strip club, as we are doing now, in order to get to her. That did work in our favor on Tuesday, remember?’’

‘’True! Still, I can’t help…’’

Janet then paused, while her eyes went to something across the street. Nathan looked in the same direction as her and saw a man carrying a long tube resembling those used by artists to carry large, rolled paintings or drawings. That man, who was in his late thirties and was dressed informally, walked to a narrow alley between two buildings facing the strip club, then turned inside the alley, disappearing from sight. Nathan became suspicious at once: that tube was big enough to contain a rifle.

‘’I saw that man carrying a tube. I’m going to check him out, Janet. Stay here and wait for Jennifer.’’

Despite the internal urge to also go out of their car, Janet realized that Nathan was right, thus stayed inside while her partner stepped out on the street. Her heart beating faster now, she followed Nathan with her eyes as he crossed the street and walked to the entrance of the alley, glancing quickly past its corner before entering it. Janet suddenly felt blood rush to her brain when she saw a man hurriedly stepping out of a car parked some fifty yards away as soon as Nathan walked into the alley. That man, who had been behind the wheel of the car, wore a long trench coat and a wide-brimmed hat and put his right hand inside a pocket of his coat as he walked briskly towards the alley’s entrance. Now afraid for her partner, Janet didn’t take the time to think further and got out of her car, checking first for incoming traffic before crossing the street. A passing truck cut her field of view for a moment, long enough for the second suspect to disappear from sight. Accelerating her pace to a near run, Janet discreetly took out her service revolver as she arrived at the corner of the alley’s entrance. One cautious glance showed her the second suspect approaching the foot of an external emergency fire staircase, some twenty meters away. Nathan was halfway up that staircase, obviously heading for the flat roof of the building, while the first suspect was out of sight and probably already on the roof. Then, she saw the second suspect take out a revolver from his trench coat right pocket before taking out as well a silencer which he started screwing to the muzzle of his gun. Her heart now beating furiously, Janet left the protection of the brick corner she was leaning against and started walking towards the second suspect while pointing her gun, gripping it with both hands.

‘’FBI! DROP YOUR WEAPON, NOW!’’

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The gunman jerked his head towards her, freezing for a short second, then pivoted quickly to face her while raising his revolver. Doing her best to follow the counsels she had received from her FBI firearms instructors during her training; Janet squeezed progressively the trigger of her revolver while keeping her sights aligned on the gunman facing her. Her shot went off a fraction of a second before the gunman’s revolver, a powerful model, erupted, its detonation partly muffled by its silencer. Janet’s bullet connected, hitting the gunman in the chest and making him jerk, while the man’s bullet whistled by her left ear. However, while grimacing with pain, the gunman didn’t go down and kept his revolver pointed at her, his index squeezing the trigger for another shot. Janet fired again, hitting him in the chest for a second time. Still, the man would not come down and fired his second shot, which thankfully went wild. Mentally swearing at the puny power of her snub-nosed .38 Special revolver, Janet fired in quick succession three more shots, emptying her Smith & Wesson Model 36 revolver. The gunman still had his weapon pointed at Janet when he finally crumpled to the ground like a broken puppet. Janet was letting out a big sigh of relief when two gun shots rang out from above. Looking up at the emergency staircase, she was just in time to see the first suspect fall off the roof, with Nathan having his revolver pointed upward. That suspect splattered on the pavement of the alley with a dull ‘thud’, with his body then staying motionless.

‘’JANET, ARE YOU OKAY?’’

‘’YES! AND YOU?’’

‘’I’M ALRIGHT! CHECK THAT MAN WHILE I GO ON THE ROOF TO SEE WHAT HE WAS CARRYING.’’

‘’GOT IT!’’

Hurriedly reloading her revolver first, Janet then cautiously approached the two bodies lying in front of her and checked them for a pulse. Both men proved to be dead. Going to the man she had shot dead; she examined his gun while being careful not to touch it: this was after all a certified crime scene. That gun turned out to be a Colt Python six-shot, .357 Magnum revolver with a four-inch barrel, a top-quality weapon.

‘’Well, that guy sure was paying himself the best in terms of revolvers.’’ A growing commotion and shouts coming from the street then made her pivot around. She swore to herself when she saw a crowd forming around a person lying down on the sidewalk on the other side of the street: an innocent bystander had apparently been hit by one of the stray bullets from the gunman she had killed. She was tempted to

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immediately run to go help that person, but remembered that she had two bodies and weapons lying at her feet that she could not leave unattended. Looking up, she shouted at the top of her lungs.

‘’NATHAN, COME DOWN QUICKLY! A BYSTANDER HAS BEEN HIT AND NEEDS HELP.’’

‘’I’M COMING IN A SECOND!’’

As soon as Nathan reappeared on the edge of the roof, the tube belonging to the first suspect in his hands, Janet sprinted towards the downed bystander, running through the traffic and barely avoiding being hit by a car whose driver was staring at the body on the sidewalk. She had to push people out of the way to get at the downed bystander.

‘’MAKE WAY! MAKE WAY, PLEASE! FBI!’’

Once beside the victim, Janet saw that it was a small, old man in his sixties who lay motionless on the sidewalk, an expanding red stain at the level of his right lung and pink foam coming from the corner of his mouth.

‘’Damn! He has a perforated lung. SOMEONE CALL AN AMBULANCE, QUICK!’’

Nobody moved at first. Then, a young, well-dressed man finally reacted and ran to the nearest public telephone booth. Janet was then able to concentrate on administering first aid to the unfortunate old man, covering the hole in his chest with a folded handkerchief and pressing on it. A quick check told her that the bullet had not exited through the back and was still inside. The young man who had gone to make a call then came back to her.

‘’An ambulance is on its way, miss. I also called for a police car.’’

‘’Good thinking, mister! If you are ready to help further, I would like you to hold that handkerchief in place while applying a light pressure.’’

‘’I can do that!’’ said a female voice, making Janet’s head snap up to find Jennifer Woods standing in the front rank of the crowd of spectators.

‘’Alright! Kneel on that side, then take hold of the handkerchief… Yes, that way.’’ Now free to get up, Janet did so and asked the bystanders to disperse and leave fresh air for the victim. Next, she looked back at the alley in which the shooting had occurred and saw that Nathan was still there, searching the bodies of the two gunmen. Two minutes later, two patrol cars from the L.A.P.D. screeched to a halt in front of the strip club, preceding by a minute an ambulance. Flashing her FBI badge at the incoming policemen, Janet quickly briefed them on what happened, then asked them to secure

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both the alley and the portion of sidewalk on which the old man lay. She was finally able to speak discreetly with Jennifer Woods after the old man had been put on a gurney and was being carried into the ambulance.

‘’Jennifer, I believe that you really need to accept our protection. We just confronted and killed two gunmen who were apparently bent on ambushing you the moment you arrived at the club.’’

The young stripper, her expression somber, glanced at the alley, where two bodies lay on the pavement under the guard of Nathan Chomsky and of two policemen, then looked back at Janet.

‘’Then I will find a more discreet way to get inside the ‘Pussycat Cabaret’. As long as you will not have found who in the police is leaking information about me, I will keep my alternate address secret. On the other hand, this should be enough to arrest that bastard of Donald Hurst, as a preventive measure, no?’’

‘’I’m sorry, Jennifer, but it doesn’t work that way, unfortunately. Unless we find evidence on these dead gunmen linking them clearly to Donald Hurst, then we can’t do a thing against him.’’

‘’Then, let’s go see those bodies!’’ replied Jennifer, who half turned around before Janet could stop her.

‘’Whoa, Jennifer! You can’t do that: you are not a police officer, just a private citizen. Let us do our job.’’

Jennifer shot a clearly frustrated look at Janet at those words.

‘’Very well, then! I will thus go do MY job as a stripper. I will call you if anything happens.’’

‘’Please do that, Jennifer.’’

Janet sighed with frustration as the stripper left and walked to the main entrance of the ‘Pussycat Cabaret’, entering the club after knocking on the door. Crossing the street and going into the alley, Janet joined Nathan near the bodies of the two gunmen.

‘’So, what did you find out about them, Nathan?’’

‘’That both had handguns with silencers, while the one on the roof had a precision bolt action rifle in .22 caliber with scope and silencer hidden in that fiberglass tube he was carrying. Fortunately for us, both carried more identity papers on them than our late Frank Buono. With luck, we will be able to trace them to Hurst. The only thing left to do is to go search their car.’’

‘’I noticed which one they were in: I will take care of searching it.’’

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‘’Then, here are the car keys I found on the man you shot. By the way, nice shooting you did there: all five bullets were in his chest.’’

‘’Yeah, except that those .38 Special bullets took their sweet time to make that man fall down. Maybe I should get something with more punch as a handgun.’’

‘’Well, you should know that FBI regulations don’t allow you to use the gun of your choice as your daily carry weapon. On the other hand, you’re right about the lack of punch of our snub-nosed revolvers. That man you shot certainly had a nice, powerful weapon. One hit from it and you would have probably gone down at once.’’

‘’I was lucky, but a poor old man wasn’t. Jennifer was right: we should find some motive to arrest at once that Hurst bastard before more innocents get hurt. Unfortunately, that’s easier said than done. I’ll go check that car now.’’

Leaving Nathan with the bodies, Janet walked out of the alley and went to the Ford sedan from which she had seen the second gunman exit. She actually didn’t need to use the keys found by Nathan, as she found the car unlocked. Looking first in the glove compartment, she found a set of car registration which told her that the vehicle was a rental, plus two loaded spare magazines for a Colt 1911 pistol and a box of .357 Magnum cartridges. Then searching the inside of the car, she saw a large paper envelope lying on the carpet, in the space between the driver’s seat and the front passenger’s seat. Her curiosity suddenly intensified, Janet grabbed the envelope and emptied its content on the passenger’s seat. Cold sweat broke out on her forehead when she saw pictures taken by an instant camera which showed the apartment block in which Jennifer resided on Colton Street, with the address scribbled on the margin of a photo. Only police officers and Justice Department secretaries were supposed to know that address! Bile now in her throat, she continued her search, finding a Kodak instant camera and boxes of films under the front passenger’s seat. Going last to the trunk, she opened it, only to freeze at the sight of what was inside it. A half-opened canvas bag was nearly filled with bundles of dynamite sticks, grenades, detonators, trip wires, fuses and other materiel to prepare bombs and booby traps. There was also a sawed-off shotgun, a 9mm submachine gun, ammunition, ropes, rags, a meat cleaver, a bone saw and four one-gallon jugs marked as containing nitric acid. Suddenly feeling nearly sick, Janet closed back the trunk and locked it, then locked the doors of the car, to prevent anyone from taking things from it. Her face was somber when she walked back inside the alley to talk with Nathan.

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‘’Those bastards had photos of Jennifer’s apartment building, along with its address. They also had everything needed to build bombs and booby traps and to dismember her body and then dissolve it with acid.’’

Nathan tightened his jaws on hearing that and gave a murderous look at the two dead men sprawled on the pavement near him.

‘’Fucking bastards! Somebody at either the FBI or LAPD is still leaking information about Jennifer to that Hurst bastard. However, I find hard to accept that one of our own people would be working for Hurst. Stay here for a moment: I am going to call the office on this and pass that info to the boss.’’

Nathan was gone for maybe ten minutes by the time he came back into the alley to speak with Janet.

‘’The boss is on his way to here and I can tell you that he is not a happy customer. A crime scene team and a coroner’s van are also on the way. We are to hold positions until they arrive.’’

‘’Then, I will go wait near the car of these men, to make sure that nobody tampers with it.’’

‘’A good idea!’’

‘’Uh, what will happen with Jennifer now, Nathan? This only shows that she is at extreme risk until she can testify at Hurst’s trial.’’

‘’I know, but we technically can’t force her to accept our protection, while we have no legal argument to justify putting her in protective custody. It is really up to her to decide what she does from now on.’’

Not satisfied one bit with that answer but seeing that Nathan was correct, Janet repressed her anger and frustration and walked back to the gunmen’s car, to discreetly wait near it in the entrance of a small boutique.

She had been watching the car for maybe fifteen minutes when a marked F.B.I. van, a coroner’s van and an unmarked car arrived and parked at the entrance to the alley. To Janet’s surprise, Roger Fairfax came out of the unmarked car accompanied by Robert Brown, the head of the F.B.I.’s Los Angeles Division. She waited for a pair of crime scene technicians to come to her, then gave them the keys to the suspects’ car and briefed them quickly before walking briskly to the nearby alley. There, she found Nathan discussing with Fairfax and Brown, using a rather intense tone with his superiors.

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‘’…We can’t continue to let this Donald Hurst free to launch assassins at Miss Woods, sir! At this rate, she won’t survive until the trial.’’

‘’I get what you say, Agent Chomsky,’’ said patiently Brown, ‘’but legally we can’t do a thing against him right now, not until some evidence implicates him directly with these attempted assassinations.’’

‘’So, we are supposed to just wait until our sole surviving witness gets killed, sir? We should at the least put Hearst and his crooked lawyer of his under telephone surveillance, so we could have a chance to connect them to these hired guns.’’ Brown sighed in frustration before replying to Nathan.

‘’I just tried that myself, but Judge Grant again refused my request for phone taps. Sometimes, I wonder if he’s in Hurst’s pocket.’’

‘’Let’s not forget the fact that, as well, someone is still leaking information about Miss Woods, sir. We should cut all links with the L.A.P.D. in this affair, for Miss’s Woods’ sake.’’

‘’In view of what happened today, I think that I will do just that, Agent Chomsky.’’ Brown then noticed Janet, who had approached from behind him.

‘’Ah, Agent Coleman! I am happy to see that you came out of this intact.’’

‘’Not as much as me, sir. To get back to Miss Woods, we really should make her accept to go in protective custody. There is no way for us to know if some new assassin would somehow learn in the days to come where she is hiding. A killer could even go stalk her inside the campus of the U.C.L.A., in which case many innocent bystanders could get hurt.’’

‘’And where is Miss Woods right now, by the way?’’

‘’She went inside the ‘Pussycat Cabaret’ shortly after the gun battle and is probably preparing for her first act of the evening.’’

‘’Then, come with me, Agent Coleman: we are going to pay her a visit. Agents Fairfax and Chomsky will handle the crime scene investigation in the meantime.’’

‘’Yes sir!’’

Walking with Deputy Director Brown to the entrance of the strip club, Janet knocked on its large wooden door, then showed her F.B.I. badge to the doorman when the latter opened the door.

‘’Agent Coleman, F.B.I.! We are here to speak with Miss Jennifer Woods.’’

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The doorman, remembering her from her previous visit, nodded his head and opened the door wide.

‘’Please come in, miss, mister. Miss Woods is presently speaking with the club manager in his office. I will lead you to them.’’

‘’Thank you!’’

Passing in front of a cloakroom and crossing a posh entrance lobby, the doorman led them to the door of an office with a brass plate bearing the inscription ‘Frank DeSoto, Manager’. A male voice answered when he knocked on the door.

‘’COME IN!’’

The doorman then opened the door and stuck his head in.

‘’Two F.B.I. agents came in to see Miss Woods, Mister DeSoto.’’

‘’Very well: let them in!’’

Walking in with Brown, Janet saw Jennifer Woods, dressed rather incongruously in a policeman’s uniform, sitting on the corner of a large work desk behind which a handsome man in his late thirties was sitting. The man then got up and walked around his desk to come shake hands with Janet Coleman and Robert Brown.

‘’I am Frank DeSoto, manager of the ‘Pussycat Cabaret’. I was in fact discussing with Jennifer the shooting which has just occurred in front of the club.’’

‘’Deputy Director Robert Brown, in charge of the Los Angeles Division of the F.B.I. Me and Agent Coleman came to speak to Miss Woods about that shooting, as she was the intended target of two professional gunmen whom my agents were able to intercept and kill. Could we speak with her in private for a moment?’’

‘’Uh, sure! However, be advised that Miss Woods is due on scene in about twenty minutes.’’

‘’This shouldn’t be long, Mister DeSoto.’’ promised Brown. Nodding his head, the manager then walked out of his office, closing the door behind him. Now alone with Janet and Jennifer, Brown looked her up and down, a faint smile on his lips.

‘’Are you planning on joining the L.A.P.D., Miss Woods?’’

‘’No, just to strip bare its image, Director Brown.’’ replied Jennifer in jest, making the F.B.I. agents grin with amusement.

‘’I see! Now, if we could get serious again, I would like to offer you again the protection of my agency, miss.’’

‘’Ain’t going to happen, mister!’’ replied at once Jennifer. ‘’I already told that before to Agent Coleman.’’

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‘’Do you fully realize the kind of mortal danger you are in, miss? This is the second time in three days that assassins came for you here. Know that we found pictures of your apartment block, as well as explosives and detonators, inside the car of the two killers we intercepted today.’’

Jennifer’s face hardened at the mention of the pictures taken of her apartment building.

‘’Maybe I should return the favors and hire a killer to get rid of that Hurst bastard, since you are incapable of restraining him, mister. Look, I have both a job and university studies to manage and I won’t be able to continue with either if I am held in some hidden hole until next month, that is if Hurst’ lawyer doesn’t find a way to delay repeatedly that trial with fancy legal arguments. I am sorry, but I will manage by myself, thank you. This is my final word!’’

Brown stared at her in silence for a moment, his expression somber.

‘’For your sake, I hope that your decision will not end in tragedy, Miss Woods. However, I have no legal way to force you to come under our protection, short of arresting you on some pretext.’’

‘’HA!’’ replied Jennifer, defiant. ‘’And what would be the charges then? Indecent exposure? My strip acts are within the law and, before you would arrest me, you would need to arrest or caution as well a few others who come regularly to watch my performances, including a couple of your own agents.’’

‘’WHAT?’’ nearly shouted Brown, stiffening at once. ‘’How could you say that?’’

‘’How? By having chatted with them in this club, the same way I chat with other customers, including lawyers, attorneys, judges and police officers who regularly frequent this club. You shouldn’t be surprised to learn that many who publicly condemn stripping as immoral actually enjoy watching it…without their wives knowing it.’’ Jennifer made a devilish grin as Brown stared at her with indignation.

‘’By the way, you won’t get the names of those people from me: that would hurt badly Frank’s business and I certainly wouldn’t want to do that. If you have nothing else to tell me, then you will excuse me: I have to prepare for my show.’’ Brushing past Brown, Jennifer then walked out of the office, leaving the shocked F.B.I. senior man alone with Janet Coleman.

‘’Damn! This girl is certainly a hard-headed one. I hope that she will be truly careful during the next few weeks. Well, no point in staying here longer: we have enough to do already about those two dead gunmen.’’

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Leading the way, Brown then left the office, followed closely by Janet, and walked out of the club, to return to the scene of the gunfight in the alley.

Despite the façade of assurance she had kept in front of the F.B.I. agents, Jennifer was now seriously worried. Not about getting killed, as she would be extremely hard to kill with simple human weapons, but about the very real prospect of innocents around her getting hurt accidentally, like in the case of the old man hit by a stray bullet this afternoon. That worry in turn made her pause as she analyzed for a moment why she felt that way. Typical Demons would not have had a single thought or preoccupation about those innocents, but that was one thing that distinguished her from other Demons: she was able to care for others. Half of her blood came from a Celestial, a fallen archangel who, while having disobeyed his Lord and having been expelled from the Celestial Plane as a result, had still been a fundamentally good being. That half-Celestial bloodline had in turn made her a monstrosity in the eyes of the other occupants of the Abyss, who had then tried to kill her. Delicia was thus no longer simply a Demon Succubus using a human form: she was now in terms of attitudes and feelings more akin to an immortal Human possessing extraordinary powers and magical abilities. Delicia then shook herself up and returned her mind to her present situation: it was definitely time for her to go on the offensive, instead of passively waiting for more assassins to show up. But first, she needed a small piece of information, so she accosted Frank DeSoto, who had been waiting in the reception lobby and greeting the first customers of the evening to his cabaret. Signaling him to join her near his office, she spoke to him in a low voice once alone with him.

‘’Frank, I need your help about something.’’

The manager looked gravely at her: while their relationship had stayed strictly professional during the year they had been working together, he was extremely fond of Jennifer and this business of assassins hounding her deeply worried him.

‘’You can ask anything you need of me, Jennifer.’’

‘’Thank you, Frank: you are truly a good man. Look, I know that, despite your family links with the Mafia, you are not a gangster. However, you do have plenty of contacts and ways to get information. What I need is simple: the home address of that bastard Donald Hurst, the Hollywood mogul whom I am due to testify against and who is probably the one sending hired killers my way.’’

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DeSoto took only a second before he nodded in agreement, answering her in a near whisper.

‘’That should be easy enough for me to find, Jennifer. Go prepare for your show. I will have that information ready by the time your finish at midnight.’’

‘’Thanks, Frank! You are a real friend.’’ said Jennifer before kissing him on the lips. She then left for her dressing room, situated with other dressing rooms behind the stage of the cabaret.

When she finished her last act of the night just before midnight and returned to her lodge, it was to find Frank waiting for her there. The manager took the time to admire her still mostly naked body before handing her a folded piece of paper.

‘’You will find on this paper both the home address of Donald Hurst and the address of his work office, plus his personal telephone number. The bastard lives in Bel Air, in a mansion on West Sunset Boulevard. That mansion has armed guards, so be careful if you approach it. I also got the name and address of his right-hand man, a crooked lawyer named James Parker Junior. May I ask in return what you intend to do with that info?’’

Jennifer smiled gently to him in response.

‘’I will simply return to that bastard the same favor he did to me. Don’t worry: I won’t put myself at risk. Thank you for the info, Frank.’’

‘’You’re welcome, Jennifer. Have a good night!’’

‘’You too, Frank.’’

The cabaret manager then left her lodge. Unfolding the paper he had given her; Jennifer read the few words and numbers on them and smiled.

‘’If you won’t come to Hell, then Hell will come to you, Donald Hurst.’’

Taking the time to change in her street clothes and packing in her suitcase her stage clothes that needed to be cleaned, Jennifer/Delicia then teleported directly to her house in Westwood. For the time being and until things cooled down, it was better for her to avoid her rented apartment on Colton Street, especially since she now knew that its address was known to Hurst and his henchmen. Once inside her house, she immediately shape-shifted to her form as Patricia Love and retrieved her car keys before going inside her garage, where her fiery red 1972 Pontiac Firebird Trans-Am was parked. Getting in the driver’s seat, she activated the garage door remote control, then started

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the car’s powerful V-8 engine and rolled out of her garage, remotely closing the garage door behind her. Driving to Bel Air and Hurst’s mansion took only a few minutes, her house being some three kilometers from the mogul’s residence. Slowing down a bit but not enough to attract attention, Delicia visually detailed the mansion and its walled grounds, memorizing at the same time the precise location of a small clump of trees near the residence. With that done, she drove back to her house, putting her car inside the garage and going to her bedroom to change. This time, she put on a relaxed outfit of dark blue jeans, black sweater and black running shoes before teleporting to the clump of trees near Hurst’s mansion.

While the mansion was mostly dark, with lights showing in only one room at ground level, a number of lights illuminated strategic points of the property, including the main gate, with its iron grill and guardhouse. Being able to see in the dark with her supernatural senses and vision, Patricia/Delicia quickly spotted a total of three private security guards: one at the main gate, one at the front entrance and another doing rounds around the mansion. She also saw what appeared to be a swiveling security surveillance camera mounted on top of a pole near the main gate. There was also a high brick wall enclosing the property. For any normal intruder, this would represent a fairly risky target, but she was no normal intruder. Uttering quietly a few magical words, she turned into an invisible, intangible ghost and started floating towards the nearby perimeter wall of the property. She went through the wall as if it did not exist and continued towards the mansion, going through its southern façade and finding herself inside a large kitchen. The kitchen was lit and a man in the uniform of a private security guard was present in it, munching on a sandwich. The man however didn’t see Patricia, nor could he possibly be able to. Ignoring the man, Patricia floated out of the kitchen and into a large, luxuriously decorated hallway lined with expensive paintings and works of art. A large, marble staircase went up from a large reception lobby intersecting the hallway. Still invisible and silent, Patricia went up the stairs and arrived on the first floor, in which she expected to find the bedroom and private office of Donald Hurst. The first, darkened room she visited turned out to be an empty bedroom, probably reserved for guests and visitors. The next room proved to be a vast office, complete with a huge rare wood work desk and a set of easy chairs and sofas. The one thing that attracted Patricia’s attention there was the big steel safe tucked in a corner of the room, behind the work desk. Going to it and examining it quickly, she saw that it was a top-quality

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model with combination lock and with an internal volume of at least twelve cubic feet. Knowing the kind of illegal activities Hurst was involved in, he probably had a big flow of cash money and valuables which he kept in that safe and, possibly, incriminating papers or photos concerning rivals and partners alike. It would definitely be nice for her to get access to the inside of that safe, for two reasons: first, being an immortal being forced to move on and start a new identity every few decades or so, cash money and valuables like gold and diamonds would always be useful to her when the time came to disappear and change venues. Second, anyone finding this safe empty after tonight would think that Hurst had left in a panic to go hide overseas from the American justice system. Patricia had a mean smile at that thought: Hurst was going to disappear alright, but not to some luxury retreat in the Caribbean.

Continuing her search through the first floor of the mansion, Patricia finally found Donald Hurst, sleeping in the huge bed of a posh bedroom. A very young teenage girl was also sleeping in that bed, apparently naked. Quietly approaching the bed in the dark room, she was soon standing beside the sleeping girl and muttered a ‘Sleep’ spell, deepening the girl’s sleep to a near coma. Next, she moved to Hurst’s side of the bed and telepathically entered the mind of the mogul to plant a suggestion in it.

‘’The girl was really nice with you tonight. She deserves a nice bonus. You need to go now to your safe and open it to get some money for her.’’

‘’I…I need to get some money from my safe…’’ said Hurst in a near whisper before getting slowly up and out of his bed like a sleepwalker. In what was close to a state of hypnosis, Hurst walked out of his bedroom and went to his private office, where he lit the main ceiling lamp. Patricia stood close behind him, looking over his shoulder as the mogul turned the knob of his safe’s mechanism and memorizing the combination. To her pleased delight, the safe proved to be nearly full with piles of banknotes, small boxes, gold bars and various papers and documents. As Hurst hesitated, his foggy mind unsure what to do next, Patricia slipped another suggestion inside his brain.

‘’I will leave the safe open for the moment, until I can decide how much to give to the girl in the morning.’’

‘’I will decide later… Better leave this open for the moment…’’ said Hurst slowly before straightening up while leaving the door of the safe open. Before he could do two steps, Patricia rematerialized behind him and, using a heavy ashtray that had been lying on the work desk, administered a forceful blow to the back of his head, knocking him

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unconscious. Her next move was to lay on top of his inert body and concentrate, teleporting with the mogul to the basement of her Westwood house. There, she solidly tied Hurst up and gagged him before leaving him alone in the basement and teleporting back to Hurst’s office. Going quickly through the content of the big safe, she found over 200,000 dollars in cash, plus a good ten kilos in gold bars and coins and two small boxes filled with cut diamonds. There were also close to half a million dollars in U.S. Treasury bearer bonds in the safe, along with a few ledgers and large envelopes. Returning quietly to the main bedroom and searching it, Patricia quickly found a pair of leather suitcases in a walk-in wardrobe closet and brought them to the private office, where she stuffed the valuables and papers from the safe in them. Being careful to leave the safe half open, as if Hurst had emptied it in a hurry, Patricia grabbed the two suitcases, then teleported to her house with them.

When Donald Hurst woke up, it was with pain radiating from the back of his head. He didn’t understand at first that he wasn’t in his darkened bedroom until he belatedly realized that he was both tied and gagged. Panic then set in and he groaned through his gag while contorting on the concrete floor he lay on. A minute later, the ceiling light of the room he was in lit up, temporarily blinding him. When he was finally able to see clearly, he felt his hair stand up on his head: the young woman he had tried to have murdered was now looking down at him with a cold expression!

‘’So, you are finally awake, you bastard. It is now time for you to pay for all your crimes.’’

Going to a rope which was tied around Hurst’s feet, Jennifer Woods pulled on the other end of it, which went around a large steel hook screwed to one of the thick structural wood beams supporting the floor above. With his back and head roughly pulled across the concrete floor at first, Hurst soon found himself suspended upside down like a side of beef in a butcher’s shop. That analogy made him shake with fear as Jennifer tied up the end of the rope to another hook, then crouched in front of him to speak to him in a suave tone of voice.

‘’So, comfortable now? By the way, I want to know if you ever used hard drugs, like heroin or cocaine.’’

Not understanding why she was asking that at such a time, Hurst shook his head vehemently, making Jennifer smile with satisfaction.

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‘’Good! In case you wonder why I asked that, know that some friends of mine could use your blood. However, I wouldn’t want to give them blood tainted with drugs.’’ Hurst, his eyes bulging from the terror that now griped him and wiggling his suspended body like a harpooned tuna, could only watch as Jennifer went to get both a large, stainless-steel bucket and a knife from a work bench, then returned beside him, placing the bucket directly under him. She knelt beside him and grinned to him while showing him her knife, a long, sharp blade.

‘’I will now bleed you like the pig you are, Hurst. See you in Hell!’’ Grabbing his hair with one hand and pulling his head sideways, Jennifer next stabbed the mogul in his jugular, making a thick flow of blood pour out of it. She hurried to position the bucket directly in the path of the jet of blood, so that as little of the precious liquid would be lost. By the time that Hurst had lost most of his blood and was about to pass out, Jennifer ripped off the tape covering his mouth and approached her own mouth, sucking the mogul’s soul out and killing him. Instead of eating that soul, like a normal Succubus would do to gain strength and power, she let it float up while shouting a message through the Planes.

‘’COME GET THIS SOUL, OH GREAT LUCIFER, AS IT IS MOST WORTHY OF HELL!’’

A fraction of a second later, a sort of miniature vortex appeared in midair and sucked Hurst’s soul inside it. The vortex then disappeared, leaving Jennifer/Delicia alone with the now dead body of the mogul. Putting temporarily away the bucket full of blood and the bloodied knife, Jennifer stepped away and concentrated before shouting one word in Abyssal, the tongue spoken in Hell.

‘’DISINTEGRATE!’’

A thin green ray then shot out of her extended right index and struck Hurst’s body. The cadaver vanished into a burst of green light and a sinister sizzle, leaving only a small pile of ashes on the concrete floor and a partially burned up rope. Jennifer’s normally green eyes glowed a fiery red as she stared with satisfaction at the pile of ashes.

‘’One hypocrite less in this world now. James Parker Junior, you are next!’’

 

00:41 (California Time)

Saturday, October 6, 1973

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‘Friends Corner Bar’, Little Tokyo District

Los Angeles

The long and narrow hall of the ‘Friends Corner Bar’, situated in a small alley of the Little Tokyo District of Los Angeles, was nearly half full when Patricia Love entered, something to be expected on a weekend. The tall and thin pale man with East European features standing behind the bar smiled on seeing her enter. His eyes then shifted to the large cardboard box she was carrying in her hands.

‘’Hello, Patricia! Nice to see you again! What do you have there?’’

‘’A little gift for you and your comrades, Roman.’’ answered Patricia before putting the box down on the bar’s counter. Roman Radu looked on with curiosity as she took out one by one eleven glass bottles with wine etiquettes still pasted on them. The bottles were filled with a deep red liquid and closed with cork plugs.

‘’It is Real Sangria, Roman. You better mark those bottles properly before putting them in your refrigerator.’’

Roman gave her a sharp look at the mention of ‘Real Sangria’, the name used when mentioning human blood in the ‘Friends Corner Bar’.

‘’This must have come from a minimum of two persons, Patricia. Would you care to tell me how you got that? John Hideyoshi could ask questions about it.’’ Patricia nodded her head, understanding the concern of the barman: she was no Red Cross volunteer and getting human blood normally entailed some unsavory details. As for John Hideyoshi, the owner and manager of the bar, he certainly had the right to know about the origin of all that blood if it was to be drank by his vampire customers.

‘’You certainly can ask, my dear Roman. Basically, I took care of two pieces of shit who richly deserved to go to Hell, but I took care of collecting their blood before sending them on their way to eternal damnation. If you are going to spill blood for a good cause, you might as well save it and put it to good use, right?’’ The 565-year-old vampire grinned in amusement at her explanation and shook an index in front of her face.

‘’You are learning fast…for a youngster, Patricia. Are you planning to go talk with John about this?’’

‘’That was my intention, Roman. In the meantime, can I offer a free round of Real Sangria before you store this away?’’

‘’Sure! Be my guest!’’

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Turning around to look at the customers present in the bar, all of whom were regular patrons with a secret or two to hide, she rose her voice to make her announcement.

‘’I just brought a fresh arrival of Real Sangria, for those who are interested.’’ Two of the customers, one man and one woman, came to the bar at once on hearing that, looking with glee at the bottles. The woman was of middle age, small and pale and was obviously of modest means if one judged from her worn clothes. Patricia knew that Cyndie Strutters worked as a night janitor and was thus quite poor. The man was even more shoddily dressed and looked a lot like the homeless man he was. That had not stopped Patricia/Delicia from liking him as she got to know him during the past year, along with the other special customers of the bar: Brian Winslow had been bitten over 200 years ago and had become a vampire at age 23, but had gone to great lengths to avoid biting and infecting others during those decades. He had also turned to the life of a homeless man in order to stay away from normal Humans and avoid the temptation of sucking their blood. He was actually the best example of the kind of

supernatural/magical beings John Hideyoshi was striving to help and support among Human society, by providing his bar as a refuge and meeting place. Roman took out three wine glasses and put them on the counter, then opened one of the bottles brought by Patricia and filled the three glasses before looking at Patricia.

‘’Would you like something for you, so that you can toast with us, Patricia?’’

‘’Hmm, I won’t say no to a little scotch on the rocks, Roman.’’

‘’One scotch on the rocks, coming up!’’

Quickly pouring a glass of scotch for Patricia, Roman then grabbed one of the glasses full of blood and raised it high, imitated by the others.

‘’To the health of Patricia, a good friend!’’

‘’Cheers!’’ responded in unison Patricia, Strutters and Winslow before taking good sips from their glasses.

With the two vampire customers returning to their table with their glasses of ‘Real Sangria’, Patricia went to a door giving access to the back rooms of the bar and opened it, then followed a corridor before climbing up a wooden staircase. Once on the upper floor, she went to knock on a door made of lacquered wood, getting a muffled response.

‘’Come in, Patricia!’’

Smiling at that demonstration by John Hideyoshi of his telepathic powers, Patricia pushed the door opened and entered a large room mostly devoid of furniture but whose

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walls were lined with a fine collection of Asian works of art, antique weapons and pieces of armor, most of them of Japanese make. As for John Hideyoshi, he was visible through an opened door at one extremity of the room, sitting behind a work desk covered with papers and files.

‘’Aah, my dear Patricia! You’re just in time to distract me from this dreadful bookkeeping work. Please, come in and sit down!’’

Patricia walked at once to John’s office and sat in a comfortable padded chair near his work desk.

‘’So, what brings you to my bar tonight, Patricia?’’

Patricia took a moment to answer the powerful being behind the desk, thinking her words over first.

‘’John, I had to kill two men in the last two days, because they were trying to have me killed in order to eliminate me as a prime witness in a criminal case against them. Since I am a pragmatic girl, I saved their blood before disintegrating them, so that I could give it to your vampire patrons and employee. At least they served one good purpose that way before dying.’’

John Hideyoshi, in appearance a small Japanese-American man in his thirties, stared at her in silence for a moment. John’s powers and magical abilities were nearly as great as those of Delicia and he would probably have been able to read her mind like a book, but that was not his style. John Hideyoshi was a being who respected the others around him and constantly showed kindness and generosity, on top of great tolerance.

‘’Well, if you acted in self-defence, then I can’t find fault with you. As for saving these men’s blood for my customers, it was actually a logical and useful idea. May I ask what kind of accusations those men were facing?’’

‘’One was accused of directing a sex slavery and kidnapping network, while the other took care of arranging the dirty work for his boss.’’

John nodded once in understanding. A being over a thousand years old, he had seen too much of Humanity’s history to be moved by the deaths of men who had exploited and hurt others.

‘’It certainly doesn’t sound like many will miss those two men, Patricia.’’

‘’They certainly won’t be, John. I came tonight so that you wouldn’t think that I am hiding things from you, especially when I indirectly connected your bar with their deaths.’’

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‘’I thank you for your frankness, Patricia. If you have to kill again men or women who richly deserve death, then I won’t mind if you bring more fresh blood for my bar. My blood collection bank is legal, but its output is quite limited and this bar is not the only magical protected refuge I support.’’

Patricia raised an eyebrow at those last words.

‘’You never told me that you run other magical shelters, John.’’

‘’Let’s say that I am always discreet about that subject: too much is at stake to take chances that someone could inadvertently leak information about those shelters. You can imagine the kind of mayhem which would ensue if normal Humans would learn that there are such things as vampires, werewolves, Demons and Celestials roaming this Earth every day.’’

Patricia rolled her eyes at that.

‘’We then would definitely live in interesting times, as the Chinese curse says.’’

‘’Right! Know that I was planning to visit Japan, where one of my shelters is situated, in December, during the holidays. How about if you accompanied me on that trip? We could make it a vacation together.’’

A happy grin came at once to Patricia’s face.

‘’Hell, that’s a great idea! Count me in!’’

‘’Then we have a deal. Be ready to travel on the fifteenth of December. Can you be free for at least two weeks in that period?’’

‘’No problem, John! Thank you for inviting me on: I will owe you a big one.’’

‘’My pleasure, Patricia. Now, if you don’t mind, I better finish this book accounting tonight.’’

‘’Oh, no plans for helping yourself to those tonight, John?’’ replied Patricia while pulling up her sweater and making her big, firm breasts pop out. John smiled but shook his head.

‘’Thank you but not tonight: I really have to finish this. However, expect to be drilled and pounded to death during our vacation in Japan.’’ Patricia clapped her hands together while making a funny face in response.

‘’Drilled and pounded to death… What more can a Succubus hope for! Be prepared to have this brain of yours fucked out in Japan.’’

‘’Then we have a challenge! Now, out, you young perverted girl, before I roast you with my dragon breath.’’

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Giggling, Patricia got up from her chair, wiggling her exposed breasts in front of John’s eyes before leaving his office.

10:46 (California Time)

Monday, October 8, 1973

Office of the Division Director

F.B.I. Los Angeles field office

‘’Yes, what do you have for me, Roger?’’

‘’News about that Donald Hurst bastard, sir: he apparently fled into hiding on Friday. His main lawyer, James Parker Junior, also apparently went into hiding at about the same time.’’

‘’WHAT?’’ nearly shouted Robert Brown, rising from his chair behind his desk. ‘’Tell me more!’’

‘’Well, sir, our first hint about that was when we tried to see Hurst on Saturday, to question him in relation with the shootout near the ‘Pussycat Cabaret’ on Thursday. We were then told that Hurst had left. When questioned further, his domestic staff said that he apparently disappeared during the night between Thursday and Friday, after emptying his safe. We actually saw that safe, nearly empty except for some unimportant documents, and with its door open ajar. His staff swore to us that nobody saw him leave, but I wouldn’t bet my shirt on their sincerity. We then visited Parker’s home and downtown office, only to find him gone as well, with his own safe opened and empty. Furthermore, a locked filing cabinet in Parker’s downtown office, in which he supposedly kept some of his most sensitive files, was found opened and empty. Again, nobody saw Parker leave, either at his home or at his downtown office. My opinion is that they were starting to get nervous after those two botched murder attempts against Miss Woods and panicked, grabbing what they could of their fortune and fleeing Los Angeles, probably to go hide in another country.’’

Brown took a moment to digest that information, then looked back at the head of his vice squad.

‘’I believe that Hurst was free on a bond while awaiting his trial, right?’’

‘’Correct, sir! If he really left the country, then that legally makes him a fugitive.’’ Brown slapped his hand loudly at once on top of his desk.

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‘’Have a warrant published for Donald Hurst! Also, alert Interpol about him as being a fugitive suspect in a case of kidnapping, sex trafficking and complicity in the murder of a federal agent. Publish as well a warrant for that Parker, for suspected complicity in the attempted murder of Miss Woods. I want all F.B.I. field offices and customs exit points in the country to look for those two men.’’

‘’I’ll take care of this right away, sir.’’ said Roger Fairfax before turning around and leaving Brown’s office. As he walked back to his own office, he mentally hoped that this would mean that the poor Jennifer Woods would now be able to live without further fear of being murdered.