There are many strange things that happen in this world of ours, the Orange Underground, but the night that Sal contacted me was perhaps one of the strangest, and shocking of them all. Even Sal seemed a bit shaken over the phone.
“We need to meet at the normal spot, Boss.”
“What is it?”
“Can’t say here. We need to discuss this in person. It is too big.”
“Alright, I will be there shortly.”
I went to a property that we owned on an industrial waterfront, an old warehouse. Ostensibly it was used to store some of our merchandise that we traded, but in reality, it was a place where certain kinds of discreet and secret business were transacted.
When I arrived the waterfront was quiet. A deep fog had descended upon the old buildings, long rectangular, red brick structures, and was only disturbed by the weak yellow light flowing from the streetlamps. In the distance were the sounds of the ships making their way through the harbor, a bell here and there, and faint foghorns. Inside the warehouse was Sal, but he was not alone. He was standing, wearing his impeccable dark suit, and sitting in a chair next to him was Sophia. The look on Sal’s face was one of utter seriousness. The look on Sophia’ s face was one of utter coolness and calculation. She displayed no emotion.
“What is happening here, Sal?”
“The guy you had me tailing, Rick. He is dead. Shot dead.”
“What? I never gave the order for that.”
“I know, Boss. It wasn’t us.”
“Then who was it?”
Sal looked at Sophia. She looked at me. Again, she displayed no emotion.
What I was seeing and sensing shocked me. Could this really be? I knelt down in front of her and touched her shoulder. “Sophia?” She looked at the floor, and clearly in a state of shock, she said nothing
I stood up. “Tell me what happened, Sal.”
“Sure thing, Boss. Well, Rick had been quiet for a while, and so we laid off on the tail, but we did place a GPS tracker on his car. We know he did not have a job yet. Still, he did not seem to be a threat. He just seemed like your normal, harmless creep. Then, a little while ago we checked the GPS and noticed more activity on his part. He was driving by Sophia’s house again. At first it was once or twice a week, and then it became every night, and often several times. So we decided to put a tail back on him. One night I decided to tail him myself, just to see what his movements were like. I don’t know, but I just sensed something, so I brought a couple of guys with me. We were lucky I chose that night.”
He took out a Marlborough, flipped open his stainless steel lighter, and lit it. As he flipped the lighter close, the clicking sound filled the entire warehouse. The white smoke slowly spiraled upwards towards the old, elongated florescent lights hanging from the high ceiling. Sal went on.
“Well, late last night we saw him go to Sophia’s house. But instead of just parking and watching, or driving around, he got out, walked up to the door, rang the bell. Sophia came to the door and opened it up. Rick went in. I thought this was quite strange, so I decided to take a bit more action. Everything was quiet, quiet neighborhood, no one noticing anything. I began to case the place a little bit more closely.”
I looked at Sophia, who was still staring at the floor, still no expression on her face. I looked back at Sal. “Go on.”
“I waited. Watched. About fifteen minutes passed. The house was dark. That is when I saw and heard it. Three flashes. Three shots. No scream. Nothing else. Just three shots.”
I nodded quietly. “And?”
“So I went to the door. It was open. When I went in Sophia was standing there, a .38 revolver in her hand. Rick was lying on the living room floor. Dead as dead can be. That’s what happens when you put three bullets in a guy’s chest.”
I looked again at Sophia. Again, no emotion. Now she was staring into the vastness of the long and empty warehouse.
Sal continued. “Well, I took the gun, and told her I was going to call you, that we would take care of this. She seemed to be in a state of shock. Said nothing. My guys showed up. We cleaned up the scene. Took the body. No one will find him. Right now we are in the process of driving his car to the seashore. They will find his car there. They won’t find Rick. The assumption will be this was a suicide. You know. Guy without a job. Full of despair. They will think it was suicide by throwing himself off the bridge over the bay, and the currents had dragged his body out to sea, never to be found. We destroyed his phone. Nothing. We even contacted our man in the phone company to make sure all his information is deleted. There will never be a connection between him and Sophia outside of his job. Cops will never find out.”
I patted Sal on the shoulder. “Good job, Sal.” I turned to Sophia. “Now Sophia, you need to tell me what happened. You must tell me everything. Do you understand what I am saying?”
She said nothing, clearly still in a state of shock.
“Sophia?”
Still nothing. She was once again staring at the floor.
I lowered my voice. “Look at me Sophia.”
Sophia finally looked up at me, her eyes big and blue and still alluring. She slowly nodded and took a deep breath. She seemed to have shaken off the state of shock.
“Yes, yes sir. Well, recently Rick contacted me again. He sent me a couple of texts and even called me. One day he ‘accidentally’ ran into me at the grocery store. I did not think much of it, but it did seem strange.”
“Why did you not mention this to me?”
“Oh, sir, I really did not want to bother you with this stuff. It seemed all so silly.”
I sighed. “Yes. Well, you are still learning. Go on.”
“Anyway, early this evening he called me. He told me we need to meet. I said no. He then told me he had to talk to me, that he had some information on me, and if we did not meet, he was going to post that information online. I thought about it and said ok. I wanted to find out what he was talking about. Sam was away visiting his family, so I was alone, and thought this would be a good time to deal with him once and for all. I wasn’t planning to…” She had a hard time finishing her sentence.
“It’s all right Sophia, go on.”
“Well, all I was going to do was talk to him, tell him to leave me alone, go away. That sort of stuff. I thought if he heard it from me he would finally leave me alone. So he arrived, and when he came in he told me, right away, that he knew everything that was going on between you and me. I told him there was nothing going on, and that he was pathetic and needed to go away and leave me alone. He then became a bit more aggressive and said that if I did not have sex with him, he was going to post all this online, and let everyone know what was happening. He said he had pictures, and videos, and other things. He pulled out his phone, and it showed me, with you, having sex.”
I looked at Sal. He took a puff of his Marlborough. “Artificial Intelligence sir. Powerful stuff. I checked his phone. It was still unlocked after he was shot. Yeah, he had a lot of fake photos on there, but they looked quite real, and given the fact that you and Sophia have been doing a lot of business together, well, this could have been used for both your detriments.”
Sophia’s voice became a bit more emotional. “Yes, they seemed so real, and I did not know. I really did not. And he persisted. He said we were going to have sex that night, and if I refused, he would post all this immediately. He said he would send them to my family. My boyfriend. My parents. My church. That he would ruin me. He then said how evil you were, sir, how he was going to ruin you, and that he was only trying to protect me. He then said how much he loved me. I could see how deranged he had become. And at that moment, he seemed so dangerous. A threat.”
I looked at Sal and Sal looked back at me. No words were exchanged. “Go on.”
“So I became frightened. At least at first. But also, also, as I said…I knew that he was a threat. I told him ok, that we would have sex. That night. In my house. I even told him that I had a secret thing for him as well. So he tried to kiss me, but I told him to wait, that I needed to get ready. So I went to my room, got my gun, and came back to the kitchen. I told him to get out. He said no, called me a bitch, a slut and a whore, and told me he was going to fuck me no matter what, that I was too timid to ever use a gun. And at that moment…at that moment…”
“At that moment what, Sophia?”
“At that moment I just felt something, something suddenly change in me, so suddenly, even like a snap, oh, it is really so hard to describe, and that I needed to protect what was mine, and I did not want to lose all this, and I saw him as a threat…to me and to you and to the Underground.”
“And then?”
And Sophia said with utter coolness and detachment as she stared down the vast space of warehouse. “So I shot the prick. Three times. I wanted him dead.” She then looked at me with those same eyes that were once so naïve and innocent, a naiveté and innocence that were now forever and permanently lost. “And now, he’s gone. And the threat to us has been eliminated.” A small hint of a smile came across her face.
Again, Sal and I just looked at each other. We were both astounded by what we had just heard. Sal took another long puff on his Marlborough, which was now almost at the butt.
Sophia’s eyes then became full of rage and her voice full of emotion. “The son of a bitch! He was threatening everything. Me. You. He knew about us. He was a threat. A threat to us. To the Underground. He needed to be eliminated. I can’t risk anything now. Too much has happened. The Underground is too damn important for his sort of pathetic shit!” She then calmed down and her eyes became as cool as the morning winter sun.
I looked at Sal, who had a look of both astonishment and amazement. Sophia stretched her hands out towards me. “Oh sir, I hope I have not upset you too much. I…I just wanted to protect everything we have. This guy was a threat to us. I can’t say that enough! That is how I felt at that moment, and that is how I feel now.”
I lowered my voice. “Do you understand what has happened here Sophia?”
“Yes, yes I do.”
“You shot and killed a man.”
She became even cooler than she was before. “Yes. And…”
“And what?”
She looked at me with an utterly cold, steely determination. “I would do it again. He deserved it. He needed to go.”
I looked at Sal who had thrown the butt to floor and was now grinding it with his leather shoe. “Ok Sal, I think we are finished here. I will take Sophia with me for tonight. Why don’t you get back to your men and make sure everything is absolutely clean at her house. There can be no trace of this.”
“What about his widow. She will be asking questions.”
“There is nothing we can do about her. Rick should have thought about that before he approached Sophia with his demands. He chose to wade into our world like this. He paid the consequences. I’ve done everything I am going to do for her. He lost his job and fell into a state of despair and took his own life, and that is what she will think happened.”
Sal pulled out another Marlborough and turned to leave.
“Oh, and one more thing, Sal.”
He looked back at me, rubbing the tip of the cigarette. “Yes Boss?”
“Better contact the General. He is going to want to know about this.”
“Got it, Boss.”
Sophia and I were now alone in the warehouse. She was wearing a short white dress, loose around the thighs with spaghetti straps. And there she was, the once young, demure and innocent girl was now a cold, calculating femme fatal, a true ice princess of the Underground. Her progress was astonishing. She had committed the ultimate act and had remained as cool and composed as possible. Well, I thought, she needed something to warm her up, as well as teach her an important lesson about doing such things without consulting me.
I stood in front of her. Close. I wanted her to feel the power of my presence.
“Stand up.”
“Yes sir.” She calmly stood up.
The warehouse had several steel poles, like in an old cotton mill factory. In fact, I think at one point it was an old cotton mill.
“Walk to that steel pole over there.” I pointed to one of the many poles in the building.
“Yes sir.”
She walked over to a pole and stood in front of it. Her blue eyes were still brilliantly bright in the dim light of the warehouse.
“Take off your dress.”
“Yes sir.” She lifted the dress. It fell to the ground. She was wearing a pair of light blue panties and a bra.
“Take those off too.”
“Yes sir.” She removed the two items.
“Turn around and put your arms around the pole.”
“Yes sir.” She turned around and put both arms around the pole. She knew what was coming next.
I took off my belt and walked slowly towards her. The only sound in the warehouse was that of the hard souls of my shoes tapping against the cold, concrete floor. “Now, Sophia, you have been a bad girl. And you need to be punished. You have caused me some problems. In fact, a big problem. Only I get to decide when to eliminate someone. You should have told me that Rick was bothering you again. I need to know these things.”
She turned her head slightly towards me but her hair was covering most of her face. “I….I am sorry sir..”
“Sorry is not good enough.” And with that I lashed her ass with the belt. Hard.
“Owww!” Her screamed filled the warehouse.
“I will not tolerate this. I order the hits in the Underground. Understand?” I lashed her ass for a second time.
“Oh God yes…yes sir…I understand….please…”
I lashed her sweet and lovely ass for a third time. It was now turning pink.
“Please…please punish me sir. I am bad. I deserve this. Please…”
I lashed for a fourth time. Her lovely ass was now bright red.
“Oh please. Do it again sir. Please. Do it some more…I know I have been very bad…”
And for a fifth and final time I lashed her ass. She squirmed and screamed. Her head was leaning against the steel pole. Her breathing was heavier. Then it became softer. She said softly, “Oh yes…that is what I need…yes…I am bad girl…and I want to please you…please…”
“Good then. Now it is time for your final punishment.” I ran my hand up between her thighs and felt her wetness. She was soaked. I unzipped my pants, and without any warning at all I slid my cock into her warm pussy.
She gasped. “Oh god yes, sir, that is the punishment I need. I have been so bad…”
And then I thrust. Hard and deep. She screamed. “OH GOD!!!” Again, her scream filled the empty warehouse, echoing all the way down the walls of the vast interior.
I began pumping her. She gripped the pole. I placed my face in her hair, my mouth close to her ear. “What you did, Sophia, is forbidden. Do you understand?”
“Yes…yes…I do…”
I reached around and cupped her breasts. I was moving slowly in and out of her, and she pushed her ass back to meet my thrusts.
“Do you understand that your life will never be the same now? That you have entered a darker part of the Underground. The darkest part. And once you enter that part, you can never leave?”
“Yes…I want it. I want everything you can give me. I want to be part of it all.”
“Really?” I thrust hard inside of her. And then again. Hard and fast and violent. “Is this what you want?”
“Oh yes! Give to me! Hard!”
I was fucking her now, holding onto her hips as she gripped the pole, pushing myself into her as she moaned and screamed. Nothing was heard in the warehouse except our sensuous copulation. I ran my hands down her sides and over her stomach and up and over her breasts.
“You are very beautiful, my lovely Sophia, beautiful and now, very dangerous.”
“Mmmm…thank you sir…please…oh god…more…please….”
Our fucking became fast and furious. This was not the time for sweet romance. This was not the time for tenderness. The time was now for Sophia to understand that she was subject to my complete dominance, and that her life was forever changed by what she had done that night. There would be no returning to her old life. All that was over.
I pumped her now, steady but fast and hard and decisive. “Now that you have crossed this line, we will have new work and new uses for you in the Underground…”
“Oh yes, anything, tell me to do anything. I will do anything for you, sir.”
“Good.”
And with one final thrust I exploded inside Sophia, and she felt that, and moaned and cried and screamed and squirmed. I gripped her firmly. I held her body next to mine. I let her feel the fullness of myself inside her. I let her know that she was now completely part of the Underground in a way that few have ever been. She was now totally in my power.
Once we were finished I told her to put on her dress. “You cannot return home tonight. My men are working to clean up the scene. We will go to my private suite in the hotel and spend the night there.”
“But…I don’t have any other clothes to bring.”
“You are not going to need any clothes tonight. Trust me.”
She smiled. “Oh, well that sounds fun.”
So we spent the night in my suite, where Sophia showed me once again how she had learned and advanced in the arts of erotic love. We fucked several times, in several positions, each of us having several intense and passionate orgasms. I could sense that Sopia was using sexual release to help her deal with what she had done that night. She enjoyed every moment of it.
As far as what happened earlier in the evening, it amazed me how Sophia had been unfazed by this, as if it had not happened at all. Her transformation had gone to a place I could not have foreseen, but now that she was there, there would be no return, and this was something I was going to have to watch closely. Not only had Sophia became quite a sexually aware woman, she was now a dangerous woman as well. She would have her place in the Underground, so long as I continued to mold and guide her in the right direction.
Later, during the night and in between our hot sex sessions, while lying in the darkness of my suite, close together and naked, Sophia revealed a little more to me.
“You know, sir, there is something important I need to tell you.”
“What is that?”
“What I did tonight, well, I knew that I could have just told him to leave, and eventually he would have just left. Rick was a pathetic pussy. He was always like that. Even when I worked with him. I knew he was a total loser and a creep. Weak. He was more scared than anything when he saw the gun. And….”
I turned on my side and looked at her. Even in the darkness of my room her eyes were still brilliantly blue. “And?”
“I…I know it was a choice. Yeah, I had a choice. I knew it at the time. I could have let him leave, I could have let him live, but…”
“But what?”
“But I wanted to shoot him. I did. I really wanted to. And so…so I shot him.”
I continued caressing her. “Yes, Sophia, it is almost always a choice we have.”
“And I knew, I knew that even if the cops showed up, no jury would find me guilty of shooting a man in my own house who was threatening me. No one.”
“That is true Sophia. But it never was going to get to that point. You are now protected by the Underground.”
She sighed a deep sigh and put her hands over her face. Then she looked at me. “And the funny and strange things is…well I should not say it is funny–I really cannot understand this, but I do not feel an ounce of guilt or regret. I even feel….feel…”
“Feel what?”
“Relief.”
I ran my hand over her stomach and through the lush, thick hair of her blonde bush. “And why did you make that choice? And why do you feel relief, and no guilt.”
“Because, as I said before, he was a threat. A threat to everything now. And I wanted him gone. And I wanted to be the one to do it, because I knew that if I was the one, then you would know my commitment to you and the Underground was real and permanent. I knew that before and after I pulled the trigger.”
I ran my hand slowly back up her stomach and over her breasts. “Well, Sophia, you are not wrong. Yes, what you did tonight, and how you have reacted to that since, has shown me that you will have a permanent place in the Underground, and that place will be very, very significant. You are going to go a long way here, and with me.”
She grabbed my hand and kissed me. “Oh, thank you, sir, that is what I wanted to hear. You will not be disappointed.” She lay back and looked up at the ceiling, at the same ceiling fan slowly and quietly going round and round that Gael had stared at a little while ago. “God, I feel like I am a completely different person now. Everything has changed for me. Ever since I met you, and got involved in all this. It is incredible.”
She looked at me. “It is…it is like….”
“Like what?”
“It is like I have actually now become the person I always was meant to me, but never knew. My true self. It just all feels so…right.” She rested her head on my chest. “Oh, it is so hard to explain. But what I do know is that I want to give all of myself to you, sir, and to the Underground. Nothing else matters now.”
We lay together for a few moments in silence, Sophia resting her head on my chest while I ran my hand through her hair. She broke the silence.
“Oh, and please tell me, who is this ‘General’ that you mentioned?”
I looked at her. “You are going to find out, soon.”