The late model white Ford Econoline van was parked in the Pearl Street parking area across the road from Rutgers University Athletic and Fitness Center. The van was parked next to the exit facing the fitness centre and two men sat in the front staring out the window intently.

The men worked freelance directly for Jennifer Jones and had not long ago returned from Mexico where they had used their skills to extract certain information from a Pakistani deckhand recently of the MV Arno Starlight. The questioning had taken place in a jail cell and after he was questioned the man had required hospitalisation but it wasn’t these men who had killed him. Alexi Reznik’s henchman had seen to that.

Not that the two men were averse to killing if it was required but this was simple kidnapping. The caveat being that they were not to harm a hair on the head of the person they were about to abduct. Jennifer Jones might look like a sexy little kewpie doll but they knew what she was capable of and neither of the kidnappers wanted to get on her wrong side.

"There she is," one of the men pointed to a young woman walking down 3rd Street across from the parking lot.

Katerina Walker listened to the music coming from her earbuds and thought about her mother. Her mother had used many names during Katerina’s eighteen years but she knew that her mother’s real name was Katya Kuznetsova and that she loved her.

When she was young Katerina had moved around Europe and the UK, attending good schools, being looked after by good people whom she knew her mother paid well. When Katerina turned thirteen Katya had set up a trust fund to ensure that Katerina was well cared for, which was just as well because for a two-year period her mother had virtually disappeared for reasons that she had never explained.

Other than that Katya saw her daughter fairly regularly. Katya had never fully explained why Katerina couldn’t live with her in the United Sates but she knew it had something to do with her father. He was some sort of uber-criminal or something and if people knew that Katerina was his daughter they might take revenge.

The story didn’t really make that much sense to Katerina because if her father was this uber criminal then why didn’t he protect her?

She didn’t question her mother. Katya made sure that Katerina never wanted for anything and finally Katya’s circumstances had changed and Katerina had come to the US, enrolled at Rutgers University and spent the weekends and holidays with her mother. She considered herself the happiest girl in the world.

Katerina was clad in black and pink spandex tights and matching crop top and wore expensive cycling shoes because she had just finished a spin class. Katerina's jet-black hair was tied in a ponytail. She’d had it styled like her mother’s but wore it longer. Katerina was tall like her mother and had her mother’s lithe figure and long legs and the same sense of style. Where the other girls in her classes felt emancipated by not wearing makeup or pantyhose and mostly dressed down and wore sensible shoes, Katerina always wore full makeup and preferred skirts and dresses, heels and hose. She basically liked to dress like her mother.

She didn’t care that the other girls teased her for being a throwback and unemancipated, she threw back at them that they were actually slaves to popular culture and stereotypical of young women as perpetuated by the media.

"Ok, let’s get her. Don’t hurt her!" the driver pointed excitedly.

His partner gave him a withering look but just nodded. He knew that hurting the girl was tantamount to a death sentence.

Katerina approached the crosswalk weighed down by the gym bag hooked over her shoulder. The crosswalk was just down from the Rutgers University Police building but there was no sign of any cops.

The driver started the engine whilst his partner climbed into the back of the van and opened a ripstop nylon bag from which he took out a Ziploc bag with a sponge inside it. He pulled down his ski-mask and pulled on his surgical gloves, adjusting them to fit. The driver turned onto North 3rd Street and stopped at the crosswalk just as Katerina stepped onto it.

It couldn't have gone better. The usually busy street was quiet and there was no one else on the street as Katerina drew level with the van listening to her music and daydreaming, taking no notice of her surroundings. The chemical smell from the sponge was so strong that the man held it down by his side so as not to be affected.

The man flung open the door and leapt out and grabbed Katerina and put the sponge over her nose and mouth before she could scream. She struggled a little until the chloroform mixture knocked her out. He manhandled Katerina into the Econoline quickly, being careful not to injure her. He laid her down on a large mattress in the back of the van and tossed her gym bag in after her. He slammed the door closed and put the sponge back in the Ziploc bag whilst the driver drove away slowly, conforming to the speed limit.

The kidnapping had taken only seconds. It would take the driver somewhere from twenty to thirty minutes to drive to Newark Airport where a private jet waited for them on the apron.

The man in the back of the van arranged the girl on the mattress as comfortably as he could. He put a pillow under her head and spread her arms and legs wide so she wouldn’t roll off the mattress. He pulled the curtain across the windows in the back and across the driver's cabin so no one could see into the van. The back of the van became dark so he switched on the dome lights and took a good look at the girl.

The man was sweating with the exertion and he was excited from grappling with the spandex-clad young woman. Rubbing up against her tight body and small perky tits had been a turn on. Looking at the girl lying on the mattress with her lycra-clad legs spread wide and her small firm breasts heaving as she slept further excited him. The girl was pretty with her heavy makeup and black hair.

He knew that doing anything to harm this girl would be a death sentence if he was caught, but the girl was unconscious and the driver was too busy negotiating traffic. The man lived a dangerous life and had taken risks that most men would baulk at. The girl was just too pretty not to mess with and he knew that she would never know that he had messed with her.

He checked that the curtain across the driver's cabin was secure and then he dropped his pants and freed his hard cock.

The kidnappers had been directed not to physically assault the girl or harm her in any way but a little dry humping wouldn't hurt anyone the man thought as he kicked Katerina's legs wider apart and lay between them.

He kissed her unresponsive lips and nestled his cock between her legs and rubbed it on her lycra-clad mound. Her body was warm and she smelled of perfume mingled with perspiration which inflamed his desire.

He thrust against her, enjoying the feel of her cunt through the silky, stretchy layer of lycra-spandex. He lifted her legs and put them around his thighs so he could feel the sleek fabric on his skin. He pressed his body against hers, feeling the firmness of her perky breasts and kissed her nonresponsive lips, tasting her lipstick. It was exciting, like fucking a recently deceased corpse. He thrust harder, driving his cock into the supple, slinky fabric, feeling the contours of her labia. He kissed her passionately and thrust vigorously until he was finished, ejaculating his wad into her crotch.

He climbed off her and cleaned up with a cloth, wiping away any semen that had not been absorbed by her tights and then he put his manhood away and pulled up his pants. He rearranged Katerina on the mattress and made her as comfortable as possible for the short drive.

The kidnapper went back to his ripstop nylon bag and took out a plastic cartridge case. He extracted one of the preloaded syringes and found a vein inside the crook of Katerina’s elbow. He injected the contents of the syringe and checked her pulse and breathing for a while.

When he was happy that she was stable he rifled through Katerina's gym bag and located her mobile phone and switched it off. He zipped up the bag and made his way to the front of the van and stuck his head through the curtain.

“Ten minutes until we get to the airport cargo gate; is she ok?” the driver asked.

“She’s sleeping. I’ll monitor her while we’re airborne and give her the second shot if she needs it. She probably won’t. She’s tall but she’s small framed. All legs and ass with little tits,” the kidnapper grinned.

"You didn't fuck with her did you?" the driver asked.

"As tempting as the prospect is... no I didn't," his partner lied.

The driver just grunted. His partner was known to take unnecessary risks and the one person besides Dmitriy Tanas Yakovich that you didn’t fuck with was his bitch Jennifer Jones.

The kidnapper in the back of the van punched up a number on a burner phone and spoke briefly.

“We have the cargo. See you soon,” he hung up and took the battery and the sim card out of the phone.

He crushed the sim card and tossed it and the phone out of the van as it turned into the cargo gate entrance to Newark Airport, waved through by a security guard who had been well paid to let them through without any security checks or paperwork.

*****

Penelope Benson, Jennifer Jones and Alice Leasingham sat in the kitchen of a large ranch-style house on a small farm on the outskirts of Balwyn Texas. The nervous tension in the room could be cut with a knife.

Alice worked away on the keyboard of a super-encrypted computer linked to the dark web through a complicated maze of VPNs that rendered the computer untraceable.

Alice was not happy.

Neither Penelope nor Jennifer had made a comment when Alice joined them and they noticed that she had dyed her hair black, had it cut into a black bob and was wearing a short-skirted business suit, sheer hosiery, high heels and heavy makeup.

They both knew that Alice had developed a girl-crush on Katya Kuznetsova but they never dreamed she would take it this far. Alice was renowned for dressing down to do her job. The curly-haired, freckle-faced young woman usually wore skinny-jeans, long-sleeved t-shirts and Nikes. The transformation was amazing and a little disturbing.

At first Penelope had argued against including Alice in their sting but Jennifer, although adept at manipulating and making transactions on the dark web did not have Alice's forensic skills and they needed her. There were now three people who knew that Dmitriy Yakovich’s daughter had been kidnapped. The kidnappers had no idea who Katerina Walker was, nor did they care and Katya believed her daughter was safe and sound in her dormitory at Rutgers.

Katerina Walker had been in a drug induced sleep during the four and half hour flight from Newark to Balwyn airport. The two kidnappers had taken turns checking her vitals. The kidnapper who had dry-humped her on the mattress in the van wished that he had the opportunity to do it again but there was no way it was possible in the confines of the Learjet 70.

The men had dropped Katerina off at a prearranged meeting place at an abandoned gas station and Jennifer had checked Katerina to confirm that she hadn't been harmed before she handed over a briefcase containing a quarter million dollars in US currency. Jennifer had seriously considered killing the two operatives to keep them quiet but they had been loyal to her and done exactly what she had paid them for. It was difficult recruiting men who would work for her who would not, inadvertently or otherwise, leak what they were doing to Dmitriy Yakovich. His spies were everywhere.

Jennifer decided to keep the two operatives on retainer and transferred another quarter million dollars into a numbered account in Switzerland. The two operatives were directed to take a long European vacation and not return to the US until Jennifer told them to, which they were more than happy to do.

For the last couple of weeks they had been living rough and had to make do with Mexican bargirl pussy and New York streetwalkers and they had already rented an exclusive chateau in Saint-Émilion in the Bordeaux region of France and had arranged for a couple of high-class French escorts to spend some time with them.

Jennifer drove Katerina to the ranch where Penelope and Alice where waiting. Jennifer had secretly taken several hair and semen samples from Dmitriy Tanas Yakovich before he left Balwyn and Alice took a swab from Katerina Walker and went to work making a match.

Carrying Katerina to the upstairs bedroom was no easy feat but Penelope and Jennifer were both strong women. They stripped Katerina out of her sports clothes and dressed her in clean panties, shorts and a t-shirt. Jennifer thought she could smell the musky scent of semen on Katerina’s tights and she sniffed the crotch whilst Penelope wasn’t looking. Then she rubbed the fabric between her finger and thumb. The unmistakeable miasma and slimy texture of stale semen was evident.

She doubted that either of the men would have been stupid enough to fuck Katerina but Jennifer checked Katerina’s genitalia for signs of penetration. Jennifer had deflowered plenty of virgins with Dmitriy so she knew what to look for. Katerina still had her chastity.

“Assholes!” Jennifer hissed, assuming rightly that one or both of the men had dry-humped Katerina while she was unconscious.

Jennifer knew what happened to some of the girls whilst they were being transported for sex trafficking purposes and a bit of dry-humping over Katerina’s lycra tights was nothing compared to what they endured. She kept her composure but she would punish whichever of the men had broken his contract with Jennifer. It was a matter of honour and she had a reputation to uphold.

Jennifer called one of her contacts in France and told her what she needed. The kidnappers would be questioned and the offender punished appropriately so Jennifer was satisfied that the matter was closed. Examples had to be made.

Penelope had gone downstairs to work with Alice Leasingham and Jennifer was alone with Katerina. She could see that Katerina was mostly Katya Kuznetsova but she had some Dmitriy Yakovich in her too. Katerina had Dmitriy’s long nose, chiselled cheekbones and narrow chin. Her jet-black hair was likely a product of them both. There was no doubt that she had her mother’s alabaster skin and no doubt whatsoever that she was beautiful.

Katerina would be waking up soon and the lies would begin. They would lie to Katerina, they would lie to Katya they would lie to the rest of the task force and most importantly they would lie to Alexi Reznik. It would be dangerous work.

Setting a tethered goat outside the lair of a jackal seemed like an easy task but someone had to lead the goat and tie it off.

That would be Jennifer’s job.

“Katerina will be waking up soon so we need to have our story straight,” Jennifer stated the bleeding obvious.

“Gary and the rest of the task force think I’ve driven down to Austin to check up on Silvia Bickle and Steve Edwards and their murder trial. Alice is supposed to be working from the forensics unit. That leaves only you to explain your absence,” Penelope pointed at Jennifer.

“Not that I answer to anybody here but Katya thinks I’m in my suite catching up on work I need to do for Dmitriy. I’ve pretty much given her the night off and I think she intends to spend it with Special Agent Dan Murphy,” Jennifer grinned.

Alice’s head spun around and looked at Jennifer questioningly.

“Katya and Dan… really?” Alice said; jealousy evident in her tone.

“She and Dan are questioning the girls at Supergirls strip club but they had a little dalliance before they went in there,” Jennifer said coolly.

Penelope looked a little surprised but Alice looked angry.

“Why does Katya have to tell you everything that she does?” Alice said through gritted teeth.

“There are things about me that you will never understand Alice. Let’s just leave it at that,” Jennifer said as soothingly as possible.

They needed Alice’s skills so they had to keep her onside.

“Your skinny girlfriend is going to be pissed when she finds out that you kidnapped her daughter,” Penelope couldn’t help but taking a snipe at Jennifer.

“Exactly and Katya will be calling her daughter soon for their daily chat so we better get our shit together,” Jennifer waved Katerina’s mobile phone, which was still switched off, at Alice.

“Can you fix this thing so that it doesn’t ping from here but from New Brunswick?” Jennifer tossed the phone to Alice.

“Pulleese… give me something difficult to do,” Alice began to take the cover off the phone and walked back into the den which she had commandeered as her laboratory and workroom.

“We better go up and prepare Katerina,” Jennifer said.

“You act like kidnapping girls and selling them on the web is the kind of thing you do every day,” Penelope said bitterly.

Jennifer paused and gave Penelope a cold look.

“I’ve have had first-hand experience… from both sides,” Jennifer whispered.

“I know that you have been abducted and raped a couple of times yourself so I thought this might be easier for you,” Jennifer met Penelope’s gaze.

“Let’s get it done,” Penelope hissed and led Jennifer to the staircase.

Katerina was coming out of her fugue but she was still very confused. Her last memory was of being snatched off the street outside her gym. She came too lying on a bed with clean bedding in a sparsely furnished room wearing clean shorts and t-shirt. Someone had dressed her including putting her into a pair of clean cotton panties.

Katerina knew what happened to teenage girls who were abducted and she was surprised to find that she was in the company of two well-dressed attractive women.

They were both dressed in dark skirt-suits, hose and heels. The older one had long blonde hair and was tall and well-built, not fat, but well-proportioned with long legs. The younger elfin woman had coiffed red hair, a school-girl body shape with narrow shoulders and hips and a cold, calculating disposition that made Katerina a little uneasy. Both of the women had striking green eyes.

Although Katya had never told her daughter what she did for a living, Katerina knew that it involved some sort of international criminal enterprise. Why else would Katerina have to hide in Europe throughout her childhood? She knew that her father had been some sort of bigwig criminal too, so putting two and two together she guessed that her abduction was related to those facts. She knew that her mother was financially comfortable. Katya had the house in Southold New York and she had paid for Katerina’s education and lodgings whilst she had lived overseas and paid for her tuition at Rutgers and had bought her a late-model car and gave her a generous stipend to live on through the trust fund.

Was she being kidnapped for ransom?

Katerina sat on the edge of the bed and surveyed the two women who both pulled up chairs to face her. The redhead’s coat opened a little and Katerina saw Jennifer’s Walther PPS M2 9mm in the shoulder rig. She looked at the older blonde and saw the tell-tale bulge that indicated that she too was carrying a concealed weapon.

“Which one of you undressed me and put me in these clothes?” Katerina asked.

Both women were taken aback by the question.

“We both did,” Jennifer answered.

“Are there any men in the house? Am I going to be raped?” was Katerina's next question.

“There are no men and you will come to no harm,” Jennifer tried to smile at Katerina.

“Ok. So the obvious questions then. Where am I and why am I here?” Katerina said gruffly.

Penelope went over to a jug of ice water set up on a sideboard and poured Katerina a glass which she gulped down and then stuck out the glass to be refilled.

“Just sip the water for now please Katerina otherwise you’ll make yourself sick,” Penelope smiled at her.

“Where is my mother? I want to talk to her,” Katerina countered.

“All in good time. Your mother is safe but first we need to tell you a story. An unbelievable story but true regardless,” Jennifer said in a soothing tone.

“But…” Katerina was about to ask more questions but Jennifer interjected and held up her hand.

“The story will answer most of your questions including where you are and why you are here and after you can talk to Katya,” Jennifer said softly.

Katerina’s eye’s turned flinty at the mention of her mother’s name.

Jennifer had had Katerina under surveillance for some time and she knew that the beautiful young woman was independent, intelligent, opinionated, fit and healthy and had her mother’s fighting spirit. She was smart and feisty. Lying to her was not going to be easy.

“Your mother used to work for a man named Alexi Reznik. He is a bad man, so bad that some people call him The Jackal. Your mother worked for him in the people trafficking business; one of his many criminal enterprises, which includes drug smuggling, extortion and murder,” Jennifer began

Katerina’s eyes were wide but she didn’t interject. She’d always suspected that her mother was a criminal but having it confirmed was daunting.

“She was not treated well by Reznik; I’m sure that you have seen the scars on her body,” Jennifer continued and Katerina nodded.

“Katya worked for Alexi by luring young women to the US with the promise of well-paid domestic work but they were bound into sexual slavery when they arrived. A good percentage of them came willingly, knowing they would be working as prostitutes enamoured by the lure of the money and the promise of a better life.”

“She also sought out and identified local girls, usually pretty young virgins, to be traded overseas,” Jennifer paused and took a sip of water.

Katerina also took a sip of her water. Tears were rolling down her face but she held her composure.

“As I said, she was forced to do these things. It was that or she would suffer the same fate,” Jennifer resumed her story.

“Let me show something,” Jennifer lifted her left leg and rested it on the bed and turned it to show her ankle.

“Your mother has the same tattoo,” Jennifer pointed to the scorpion.

“She never told me why she has it. She told me it was a stupid mistake when she young,” Katerina admired Jennifer's calf.

“Reznik marks the women who work for him so that they will always be branded as his property,” Jennifer lied.

“None of this explains why I’ve been abducted. I always knew deep down that my mother worked with bad people, that she was probably a criminal herself. What you have told me confirms my suspicions but doesn’t tell me why I'm here,” Katerina glared at Jennifer.

“Your mother escaped Alexi Reznik’s clutches. Your mother has her house in New York but Reznik found out where Katya was living and put her under surveillance. He knows about you. He was planning to kidnap you and sell you as a sex slave to punish your mother. We got to you first.” Jennifer continued her lies.

“You worked for this Reznik man and knew my mother when she did. Did you know my father?” Katerina asked throwing Jennifer off kilter a little.

“He was a good man. Some would say that he too was an evil criminal but he just did what he to do to survive. He was Reznik's adversary; another reason Reznik wants you,” Jennifer folded some truth into her lies.

“So now that you have me safe and sound why not reunite me with my mother? Where is she? Why isn’t she here?” Katerina whined.

“Your mother knows nothing of this. I still work for Alexi Reznik. That’s how I know that he found Katya and of his plan to sell you as a sex slave. Katya was my only real friend back then and I’ve secretly watched over her but this has brought things to a climax.”

“If your mother knew that Reznik knows about your existence she would do something stupid like offer herself to him in your stead which makes no sense because he will have you both in clutches anyway. She might try and hide you again, but that won’t work either because he knows who you are.”

“The only way to make this problem go away and secure your future is to get rid of Alexi Reznik,” Jennifer said and nodded at Penelope.

“I’m Lieutenant Penelope Bishop and I’m heading up a special task force to catch Alexi Reznik,” Penelope sat down on the bed beside Katerina and showed Katerina her gold shield.

“We’ve come up against brick walls every time we think we have him nailed. Miss Jones came to me and made me an intriguing proposal that is both unlawful and dangerous. It is also unsanctioned,” Penelope squeezed Katerina’s hand.

“It obviously involves me,” Katerina breathed.

“Yes it does. We intend to tell Alexi that we have you and that we are willing to trade you but he has to take delivery of you personally. When he comes out of hiding to collect you we grab him. We have enough evidence to put him away for life. He might even face the death sentence,” Penelope smiled wanly.

“And my mother and I will be free of him forever,” a sly smile crossed Katerina's face.

Then storm clouds replaced the smile.

“I don’t understand why my mother can’t be involved. If she knew that we would both be free forever surely she would cooperate,” Katerina said angrily.

“Neither Penelope nor I have a daughter, but we have both been daughters. We have both loved people so much that we would do anything for them. But we would never put them in harm’s way,” Jennifer sat down on the other side of Katerina and she and Penelope put their arms around Katerina and hugged her.

Ten minutes later Jennifer burst in on Alice Leasingham who was working on her laptop.

“Did you rig the phone?” Jennifer asked.

“Piece of cake. When she switches it on the signal will be rerouted to a cellular tower near Rutgers U and the GPS coordinates will also correlate for Rutgers. When she makes a call it will appear to come from that same tower. If you want her to pretend she’s on the move I can bounce the signal from towers along her route and I can manipulate the location tracking to simulate the route,” Alice explained.

“I’ve left the phone switched on and it’s fully charged,” Alice seemed pleased with herself.

“Well done Alice. Get your camera and come upstairs in about half an hour; we’ll be ready to take some glamour shots,” Jennifer said.

Alice nodded but Jennifer sensed her uneasiness.

“Did you find Reznik’s personal email address?” Jennifer knew that the best way to deal with Alice’s reluctance was to keep her busy.

“Yes,” Alice sighed.

“And you have the paternity results?” Jennifer encouraged Alice to be more responsive.

“Yes. The DNA proves conclusively that Katerina Walker is the daughter of Katya Kuznetsova and Dmitriy Tanas Yakovich,” Alice sighed again.

“Alice. You can’t back out now. This is our one chance to get Reznik,” Jennifer approached Alice and stroked her shoulder.

“I know. I just wish we didn’t have to use Katya’s daughter to do it,” she whined.

“Katya and Katerina will be fine. We’ve told Katerina a few white lies is all. You saw what Reznik is capable of?” Jennifer squeezed Alice’s shoulder.

“I just wish this over,” Alice patted Jennifer’s hand.

“Soon, Alice, soon,” Jennifer took the phone and headed back upstairs.

*****

Back at the Balwyn Hilton Katya and Dan Murphy lay on the huge bed in Katya’s suite. Katya was dressed in a satin négligée and nylon stockings, her fuck-me-pumps lay on the floor next to the bed. The bed smelled of sex and Dan was lazily stroking Katya’s leg while he a sipped a JD on ice. He traced the seam of her stocking up to the welt and tried to continue on to Katya’s pink satin panties but she slapped his hand away.

Katya had called Jennifer twice and it had gone to voicemail and then she had tried to use the house phone to call her suite directly but it was switched to do-not-disturb and also went to voicemail.

She called her daughter and Katerina answered on the second ring.

“Hi mom; how's things?” Katerina sounded cheerful.

“Just fine darling. I’m still in Texas and might be here for a little while,” Katya shooed Dan’s hand away from her breast and turned her back to him.

“How’s school?” Katya asked her stock questions.

“Fine. I’m working on my position paper due to be presented to Professor Minder tomorrow so I can’t talk for long,” Katya said.

This suited Katerina because Dan Murphy would not desist and was rubbing his hard cock against her panties, pushing it into the crease of her ass while his fingers snaked inside the front of her panties trying to find her labia.

“I won’t keep you long honey, just checking in,” Katya said through gritted teeth as Dan’s finger slid inside her cummy cunt lips and found her sensitive bud.

“That’s ok mom. I gotta get back to work,” Katya said brightly.

“Me too,” Katya hoped her daughter didn’t hear the lust in her voice.

Dan had pushed his cock inside Katya’s panties and was probing her cunt, intending to fuck her from behind while she lay on her side.

“Bye. Love you,” Katya said in a raspy voice.

Dan’s cock had breached her defences and was sliding into her slick vagina.

“Love you too mom,” Katerina, said in a cheerful tone.

Katya hung up and tossed the phone away and gave out a long lecherous moan and pushed back against Dan and put her hand over his, encouraging him to increase the pressure on her clit.

“Mom’s ok. Almost sounded like she was getting some while she was talking on the phone,” Katerina giggled.

Jennifer gave Penelope a knowing look and silently mouthed Dan Murphy.

That night before Katya went to sleep she activated the phone tracking application she had planted on Katerina’s phone. Her daughter was safe and sound in her dormitory at Rutgers University.

*****

Jennifer had Alice Leasingham take some glamour shots of Katerina; nothing pornographic or too provocative, she was not going to be listed for auction. They had only one buyer in mind and the purpose of the pictures was to prove that they had Katerina Walker in their possession, prove that Katerina was Dmitriy Yakovich’s daughter and inflame Alexi Reznik's desire for her because of her beauty.

When Alice took the shots Katerina was instructed to look afraid and disoriented and in a couple of the shots Katerina held up current copies of the national newspapers across her chest as proof of life. The last few pictures showed Katerina restrained and bound to a chair. The pictures proved that Katerina Walker had been abducted but was still alive and well.

After the photo shoot Katerina changed into casual clothing and was allowed the freedom of the house but was not allowed outside or into the den. Penelope directed Alice Leasingham to keep Katerina company while she and Jennifer worked and of course Alice wanted to know all about Katya. Katerina was amused by Alice’s attempt to copy her mother’s style but she didn’t tease Alice. She loved her mother and was delighted to talk to Alice about her.

Jennifer and Penelope put together the email they intended to send to Alexi Reznik. The email would come from anonymous kidnappers who were holding the girl at an undisclosed location.

It cited that information had come into their hands that Dmitriy Yakovich had a daughter by Katya Kuznetsova that he didn’t know about and that the kidnappers had undeniable and conclusive paternity tests to prove it. The daughter was a great beauty and still a virgin. Reznik need only see the attached proofs and photographs to know the claim was genuine.

The girl was for sale for the sum of five million dollars. The reason for the asking price was that they knew that Alexi Reznik and Dmitriy Yakovich hated each other and were heated rivals and that only an agreed code of conduct that put the imperatives of business above personal feelings kept the two Pakhan’s from killing each other. If either one of them was killed by the other, the resulting gang warfare would decimate business and nothing stopped the Odessa mafia from making money.

Imagine the mental torture that Reznik could inflict on Yakovich when he told him that he had Katerina in his clutches and sent him proof that she was his daughter. Reznik could deflower Katerina and film it. He could commit all sorts of atrocities on her and send the video to Dmitriy. He could torture her. He could do anything he wanted with her and break Yakovich's heart. Reznik could kill the girl or ransom her himself once he had taken his revenge on Dmitriy Yakovich. Imagine how much Dmitriy would pay to have his daughter back even if she had been defiled and disfigured?

They put together the paternity test results and the pictures, stripped of the location metadata of course, and attached them to the email. DNA samples from Dmitriy Yakovich and Katerina Walker had been left with a reputable laboratory in Balwyn and instructions on how to collect the samples were provided. Alice Leasingham would drop them off when she left the farmhouse that afternoon.

The transaction was to remain secret until Katerina was delivered to him personally otherwise the deal was off. If he refused to deal on their terms, face to face with the kidnappers, the deal was off and they would offer Katerina to Dmitriy Yakovich or put her on the open market to the highest bidder.

Reznik had twenty-four hours to respond.

What Jennifer and Penelope were doing was ruthless, cold, indefensible and inexcusable. The gravity of what they were about to do settled on their shoulders and Jennifer and Penelope looked each other in the eyes and made an unspoken pact between themselves. There was no going back from this.

They both put their fingers on the ‘enter’ key and pressed it together and sent the email and attachments.

“What now? This your territory not mine.

“We wait,” Jennifer said coldly.

“I suggest you get some sleep, we are going to be busy tomorrow regardless of Reznik’s response,” Jennifer stood and patted Penelope on the shoulder.

“Are we really the cold-hearted bitches that I think we are?” Penelope whispered.

Jennifer leaned down and kissed Penelope on the cheek.

“Yes,” she whispered; and left the room.

Penelope Bishop was cold and it wasn’t just the weather. She had done some despicable things in her life but none as contemptible as what she was doing now. She had betrayed lovers and partners, she had killed people in cold blood, she had been a drunk and a whore: during the Sleeping Beauties case Penelope had once come out of a blackout to find herself being gangbanged by three college jocks in a cheap hotel.

She reconciled her actions when she thought about those sixteen dead girls left to die in agony in the shipping container in the desert. They had suffered horrific injuries when the container rolled off the truck and were then left to bake during the day and freeze at night. She and Silvia had smelled the stink of their decaying flesh and seen the coyote tracks around the container and the buzzards circling above.

Someone had to pay and that someone was Alexi Reznik because ultimately he was responsible. If they had to use the innocent daughter of a Ukrainian whore and sex trafficker as bait then so be it.

If she had to work alongside Dmitriy Yakovich’s personal whore and bootlicker so be it. But something about Jennifer Jones intrigued her. She was a cold hard bitch who had all but admitted to being an assassin but there seemed to be a slither of vulnerability beneath her shield of invincibility. Jennifer had said herself that they had both been betrayed by men.

She took off her weapon and put in the drawer in the bedside table then she turned out the overhead lights and checked the thermostat again. It was set to the maximum but the room was still bitterly cold. Penelope took off her jacket and shivered; she kicked off her heels, bra and her skirt but left on her slip, panties and hosiery for added warmth and pulled on the cotton nightdress that Jaylene Foster jokingly called her ‘chastity pyjamas’. She shook thoughts of Jaylene out of her head. She didn’t want thoughts of her partner sullied by what she was doing.

The bed was cold and she pulled the comforter around her and turned off the bedside lamp. She couldn’t sleep, although she was drowsy.

Her bedroom door opened just a crack and almost silently a figure slipped into the room. Penelope reached for her gun wishing she has left it on top of the bedside table rather than in the drawer.

The unmistakeable scent of Dior Poison perfume drifted her way and she knew who it was approaching the bed silently in the dark.

“I could have killed you, sneaking up on me like that,” Penelope whispered, leaving her pistol in the drawer.

“You wouldn’t have been quick enough. You should know better than to put your weapon away when you are in unfamiliar surroundings,” Jennifer whispered just a quietly.

“Do you have your weapon with you? Is it trained on me now?” Penelope breathed.

She felt Jennifer sit on the edge of the bed. She was so small that she hardly compressed mattress.

“No I come unarmed. I came to talk, not to fight,” Jennifer whispered.

“It’s too late and too cold to talk,” the hesitation in Penelope’s reply was evident.

“Not if we share our warmth,” Jennifer tugged at the comforter and slid under the bedclothes.

“What are you doing?” Penelope gasped.

Jennifer may have been small but she radiated warmth. She snuggled up to Penelope and her scent was stronger. The shape of her small body was discernible even through the flannel nightgown and Penelope could feel that Jennifer was wearing a satin full-slip and pantyhose.

“When I was younger I missed having a sister to cuddle up to and to talk to on long cold winter nights,” Penelope could feel Jennifer’s sweet breath on her neck as she spoke.

“Me too I. I cuddled up with my mom sometimes,” Penelope surprised herself with her response.

She hated this younger woman; why would she tell Jennifer her secrets?

“You hate yourself for what we are doing,” Jennifer snuggled closer to Penelope and nuzzled her face against her shoulder.

“I have no remorse about using you, your intelligence or your strategies. I have no regrets about hurting Katya Kuznetsova, who herself is a sex trafficker and I have no regrets about betraying Gary Rasmussen, Dan Murphy, Tim Morrow. But Katerina Walker is an innocent party,” Penelope sighed.

“No one is innocent,” Jennifer nuzzled Penelope’s neck.

“Everyone is expendable. I’m expendable. Dmitriy Tanas Yakovich will one day tire of me and have to make a decision as to whether to kill me or trust me; I know what I would do,” Jennifer put an arm around Penelope and wriggled her body against her.

“Yet you are devoted to him,” Penelope shivered, but not because of the cold.

“I was given two choices: silver or lead… I chose silver,” Jennifer’s voice was so soft that she could hardly be heard.

Penelope turned around so that she faced Jennifer in the dark.

“But you know that one day he will kill you?” Penelope’s lips were nearly touching Jennifer's.

“Not for sure. He has promised me that I can continue to work for him as a Brigadier within his Bratva when my personal duties to him are completed,” Jennifer replied.

“You mean when he’s tired of fucking you,” Penelope regretted being bitchy but couldn’t help but tell the truth.

“He will never tire of fucking me but he will find someone who he likes to fuck better,” Jennifer smiled in the dark.

“You said before that you and I are very much alike. That we both have green eyes and that we both have dicks, that we had a similar upbringing and both chose law enforcement as our calling but we ended up on different sides of the fence,” Penelope put her hand on Jennifer’s shoulder.

“Yes that is true,” Jennifer sighed, her lips brushed Penelope’s.

Neither woman had removed their makeup before they went to bed and Penelope could taste Jennifer’s lipstick.

“But we are also very much alike because we are willing to betray those who are close to us. I betrayed two husbands and my friends in the Balwyn Police Department; you betrayed the FBI and your friend Katya Kuznetsova. You betrayed Katerina Walker,” Penelope put her arm under Jennifer so she could cuddle her.

“We are both betraying Katerina Walker,” Jennifer snuggled up to Penelope; being held by the bigger woman was comforting.

“When you said we were alike I replied that we are nothing alike,” Penelope breathed.

“It’s not true. We are both very much alike: devoted but ruthless, devoted but cold-hearted, devoted but deceitful, devoted but willing to betray those we love. We are the cold-hearted bitches that I said we were,” Penelope was silently sobbing.

“Then let us, just this once, comfort each other as sisters in betrayal; carrying a burden that no one else could ever understand,” Jennifer licked the salty tears off Penelope’s cheek.

“No,” Penelope whispered, pushing Jennifer away.

“Yes,” Jennifer pulled Penelope back into her embrace and kissed her.

The tension that had been simmering between the two women ignited and they kissed passionately, their mouths locked together and their tongues entwined. They locked their arms and legs around each other and held each other tight as they kissed.

After fifteen minutes of passionate kissing the two women stopped to breathe.

“Do you always wear this sexy flannel nightgown to bed,” Jennifer sniggered as she pulled at the sexless garment that Penelope was wearing.

“Shut up!” Penelope pulled away the comforter and shucked out of the cotton nightdress and tossed it aside.

“You made the bed cold,” Jennifer pouted playfully.

“Shut up!” Penelope giggled and pulled Jennifer close and kissed her again.

Their limbs intertwined and delicious slivers of delight ran up their legs. They were both wearing sheer pantyhose which whispered as they rubbed their legs together.

Penelope’s full ripe bosom pressed against Jennifer’s small pert breasts and their satin slips slinked against their bodies and their nipples hardened. Penelope enveloped her elfin paramour and held her close, kissing her, stroking her and igniting her lust.

Jennifer was not used to being treated tenderly and being the submissive partner and it had been a long time since she had been with another transgender woman and she relished the feel of being cuddled and cosseted by this beautiful older woman. Both women had become untucked and their penises pressed against each other through layers of satin panties and slips.

Penelope reached down and squeezed Jennifer’s erect penis through the slinky layers of fabric causing Jennifer to gasp.

“Not yet. I just want to feel you against me,” Jennifer whispered, easing Penelope’s hand from her groin.

Penelope obliged and pressed her cock against Jennifer’s and began to grind while she kissed her and held her tight. Penelope was surprised at the length and girth of Jennifer’s cock for such a small-framed woman.

Tingles of delight ran through the two women’s bodies as their cocks caressed, their bosoms pressed together and their lips and tongues engaged. They rubbed their legs together so that their nylons caressed their tender flesh.

“I can’t hold back,” Jennifer sighed.

“Me neither,” Penelope gasped.

Simultaneously both women flooded their panties with hot semen as they ground against each other, grinding, rubbing and chafing their bodies and limbs. Their cocks quivered and pressed together through their panties and satin slips as their semen co-mingled. They kissed and caressed and whispered terms of endearment as their orgasms washed over them.

Penelope remained tumescent and concupiscent and she rolled Jennifer onto her back.

She pinned Jennifer to the bed and snaked her hand under Jennifer’s slip and inside her panties and viciously ripped out the crotch of Jennifer's pantyhose. Penelope smeared her erect penis with Jennifer's semen and slid her cock into Jennifer's anus.

Jennifer gasped and wrapped her legs around Penelope and held her close.

“Do it! Fuck me!” Jennifer raised her buttocks and encouraged Penelope to fuck her.

Penelope complied and moved her cock slowly in out of Jennifer, drawing it all the way out and then driving it all the way in, ensuring she pushed her glans against Jennifer's prostate so that she received full pleasure.

The two gorgeous transgender women fucked each other, Penelope put her hands under Jennifer's shoulders so she could drive her erect penis deep and hard into Jennifer and Jennifer wrapped her legs tighter around Penelope, pulling her lover closer as they kissed passionately.

Penelope felt her climax approaching again and she gripped Jennifer's ankles and lifted her legs up over her shoulders so she gained maximum penetration. Jennifer assisted by lifting her bottom up off the bed and sliding two pillows under her ass and wrapping her arms around the lover who loomed over her tiny body.

They kissed and writhed and wriggled against each other; their passion building.

"Oh Yes!" Penelope screamed and ground her groin into Jennifer's buttocks.

Penelope's phallus erupted deep in Jennifer's ass, her semen spewed forth flooding Jennifer's anus. Jennifer sighed as she felt her bowels fill with her Penelope’s seed. She clung to Penelope as Penelope’s cock pushed against her prostate and her silken-shrouded belly rubbed on Jennifer's penis.

Jennifer orgasmed. Her satin slip became soaked with her seed. The intensity of this orgasm was even stronger than the first. Jennifer pushed up against Penelope and drove her tongue into her mouth and raked her fingernails along Penelope's back so extreme was her release.

The two lovers kissed and caressed as their climaxes slowly subsided. Penelope unlocked Jennifer's calves from around her neck but kept her semi-tumescent penis inside her anus.

“You were wonderful,” Jennifer smiled up at Penelope.

“You were pretty amazing yourself,” Penelope leaned down and kissed Jennifer on the tip of her nose.

Penelope put her weight on her palms so she could disengage from Jennifer but Jennifer kept her legs locked around Penelope’s waist and her arms clasped around her neck.

“Don’t move,” Jennifer demanded.

“We’re both covered in cum in case you didn’t notice,” Penelope grinned.

“But if you get out of bed we’ll be both be cold. Besides, there will only be more cum to deal with later,” Jennifer smiled up at Penelope impishly.

“Really?” Penelope feigned surprise.

“Oh, definitely. As soon as I can get hard again I’m going to fuck you in the ass,” Jennifer gave Penelope a mischievous grin.

“Really? Who says so?” Penelope giggled.

Penelope was shocked when Jennifer used her strength and athleticism to flip Penelope on her back and sit astride her.

“I say so,” Jennifer leaned down and kissed Penelope and Penelope wrapped Jennifer in a warm embrace.

*****

The next day in the Task Force office it was pandemonium when Tim Morrow and Dan Murphy found out what Jennifer and Penelope had been up to.

“This is the kinda unsanctioned bullshit I knew was going to happen when the AG decreed that that thing could get involved in law enforcement,” Dan Murphy pointed an accusatory finger at Jennifer.

“No need for insults Dan,” Penelope countered, unsure what Dan meant by that thing but she had a pretty good idea.

“But you don’t mind getting involved with and putting your cock inside people who work for me… how is Katya this morning by the way?” Jennifer gave Dan a bemused smile.

Dan’s face glowed red with anger, he balled up his fists and was about to explode when Tim Morrow interjected.

“What you are proposing is career suicide if it goes wrong,” Tim said.

“And a rocket-ship to advancement if we get it right,” Penelope countered.

She pointed to her crime wall.

“We have substantive proof that Alexi Reznik is ultimately responsible for the deaths of the girls in the can. We have hard evidence that his corporations and businesses are involved in people smuggling and sex trafficking and that he owns Belarus International Services. We can tie that company to the can,” Penelope pointed to the various documents and images on her crime wall.

“We’ve got enough evidence to arrest him for people smuggling and sex trafficking then we get the lawyers and the business forensic types to nail him under RICO when they start to pull apart his business empire.”

“The problem is getting the fucker out into the open so we can arrest him. It’s nearly impossible but we have this one chance,” Penelope went around the room and looked each task force member in the eye.

“We should at least bring in a SWAT team or get more local law enforcement involved,” Dan countered.

“Reznik will know if SWAT gets mobilised or if there is any surge in police activity. We know he has people in Balwyn because someone collected the DNA samples we left for him at the lab. He thinks he’s dealing with a kidnap for ransom gang and he’s been directed to make the exchange personally and alone but he isn’t stupid. He’ll bring a small crack team to cover his ass,” Jennifer interposed.

“How do you know that?” Dan barked.

“Because it’s what I would do,” Jennifer replied.

“Alexi Reznik has taken the bait. If we get him alone and place him under arrest we can hold him and then call in SWAT to make the extraction but we gotta get him first. This is the plan that Jennifer and I are proposing,” Penelope pointed to a large scale satellite photograph of the proposed exchange site.

Beside the satellite projection were some interior shots of the building they would use.

Jennifer had chosen a place to make the exchange that was familiar to Penelope Bishop. It was a place that held bad memories for her but a place in which she had found redemption.

The abandoned warehouse north of Balwyn was perfect. It was located on the edge of a forest and had been used to store rough-cut raw timber prior to distribution to smaller retail lumber yards. It was almost isolated, located one mile down a gravel road off the highway. The office at the back of the warehouse was furnished with a rickety old metal-framed bed where Mitch Freeman had been in the act of raping Penelope Bishop when Steve Edwards blew his brains out.

There were a bunch of rusty old full-sized lockers, some filing cabinets with the drawers pulled out of them and not much else.

Jennifer had sent the location of the warehouse to Alexi Reznik who had leapt at the chance to get his hands on Dmitriy Yakovich’s daughter. He had suffered an attack of priapism as he imagined the things he was going to do Katerina Walker when he had her in his clutches. He would film everything and send copies to his hated adversary.

Alexi would then send Dmitriy weekly updates, forcing him to watch his daughter being repeated ravaged by Alexi and any other men he chose to defile her. Alexi wondered if it would be possible to find a dog trainer who would… was he going too far? No! He would pay any price and do anything to see Dmitriy Yakovich suffer.

The exchange would be kept simple.

Alexi was to come alone and he could inspect the goods under the supervision of the kidnappers. Once he was happy with the goods he would electronically transfer the five million dollars into a numbered account that had been provided to him. He could take the girl and leave.

Penelope and Jennifer had argued incessantly about who was to be present for the exchange and in the end they agreed that they would both be there. Penelope was the only one who could legally arrest Alexi Reznik and take him into custody she had argued and in the end Jennifer agreed.

After much arguing and back and forth about the details the task force finally agreed on a plan and they each went about their assignments. Penelope and Jennifer went back to the farm where Alice and Katerina were waiting.

Katerina was told the details of the exchange at the last minute and she was instructed to change into the Dior micro-miniskirted cocktail dress, sheer nylons, Louboutin fuck-me pumps that had been provided for her and to put on heavy makeup. They wanted her to look sexy to allure Alexi and distract him.

Katerina obliged and eagerly drank the cocktail that Jennifer had mixed for her to give her Dutch courage. The cocktail was laced with a mild sedative and then Jennifer administered a more powerful sedative to keep Katerina drugged throughout the ordeal.

“Why did we have to drug her; she agreed to do this,” Penelope hissed.

“Yes she did and she is almost too willing. Alexi will be suspicious as it is. If he sees that Katerina is too willing or suspects he is being duped he won’t make the deal. He will be expecting to see Katerina sedated and that is what he will see,” Jennifer checked her Walther PPS M2 and slipped it into her holster and dropped two eight-round magazines into her purse.

Penelope checked her own weapon and holstered it.

“If we fuck this up my career is over,” Penelope said as she put an arm under Katerina’s armpit ready to lift her out of the chair.

“If we fuck this up we will both end up dead,” Jennifer said, lifting Katerina from the other side.

Katerina’s high-heel fell off as they assisted her to the car in her drugged state and Penelope put it back on her foot and put on Katerina’s seat belt and made sure that she was snugly secure in the back of Jennifer’s BMW. While Penelope did this Jennifer tapped a quick text message into her phone, making sure that Penelope didn’t see her.

Jennifer and Penelope reviewed their plan over and over again during the drive to the warehouse and when they arrived at the yard the big metal entrance gates stood open. Penelope checked in with Dan Murphy and Tim Morrow on their secure radios to make sure they were in place.

The warehouse forecourt emanated an air of abandonment. The yard was dusty and weed-strewn and the windows in the warehouse were mostly broken and those that had been pushed open sagged on their hinges. The outside walls were faded and stained with rust, mould and chemical burns. The sliding door to the warehouse itself was wide open.

Jennifer and Penelope helped Katerina out of the car. She could barely support herself but with some assistance she was able to make her way into the warehouse and to the office at the rear.

It was just as Penelope remembered it. It smelled of sawdust and wood sap. The ceiling was high and dust motes floated in the air. As they approached the office a chill ran down Penelope’s spine. The windows in the office were boarded up but she could see the rickety bed with the smelly mattress on which she had been handcuffed and raped.

The old lockers and filing cabinets looked rusty and forlorn. The place reeked despair.

Penelope knew that Jennifer knew what had happened to her at the location for the exchange and while the location was perfect, it had also been chosen to unnerve her.

“You couldn’t find anywhere else to make the exchange?” Penelope huffed as she led Katerina to the bed.

“Not in the short amount of time available to me and this is the perfect place. The warehouse is set back from the forest so an ambush would be difficult and the space is wide open with little concealment. It will be just three women and one man inside the warehouse,” Jennifer’s demeanour had been cold all morning.

The warmth, affection and vulnerability Jennifer had displayed when she and Penelope had made love the previous evening had dissipated.

“We need to move quickly,” Jennifer said easing Katerina down on the bed.

They arranged Katerina on the mattress and put a pillow under her head. Penelope knew that it was not the pillow that her own head had rested on while Mitch Freeman had put her legs over his shoulders and banged away at her body. From the looks of the dried-up used condoms, cigarette butts, broken beer bottles and crushed alcopop cans, the warehouse was a popular place for kids to hang out and do what teenagers have always done.

Penelope checked in with Dan and Tim again.

“Reznik has six men concealed in the forest on the north side of the warehouse. They’re wearing camouflage and carrying high-powered rifles,” Dan whispered into his radio headset.

“Tim and I have them covered. They’re all on the north side so as not to shoot each other in a crossfire; this isn’t the movies,” Dan was his usual cynical self.

Dan Murphy and Tim Morrow had taken up position and had camped in the forest all night Ranger style, remaining undetected. They each carried Sig Saur automatic assault rifles and plenty of ammunition.

“We’re good to go,” Penelope said to Jennifer and checked her weapon a final time.

Jennifer sent another text and they pulled up a couple of rickety folding metal chairs and waited.

But not for long.

A black SUV with tinted windows roared through the main gate of the warehouse and pulled up next to the sliding door entrance.

Alexi Reznik alighted and looked around coolly assessing the place.

The Jackal had come to the tethered goat.

The instructions stated that Alexi was to come alone but as soon as Alexi and his Brigadier had the location of the warehouse where the exchange was to take place they immediately set about identifying where they could hide snipers to cover the perimeter. There was no way that The Jackal was going into a place like that without protection.

Alexi was tall and handsome with shoulder-length blonde hair and was wearing an expensive blue suit. Jennifer had only seen photographs of him and he was an imposing sight; the sort of man who might take your breath away. He was heavily tattooed and the tattoos showed on the wrists below his cuffs and on his hands and his neck.

Reznik spoke into his phone briefly and entered the warehouse without hesitation. He was a man that exuded confidence and power.

“Two women? Two charming women if I may say so but I expected I would be dealing with men,” Alexi grinned showing perfect white teeth.

“This is what you are offering?” as Jennifer had hoped Alexi was immediately lured to the beautiful young woman lying on the cot.

The first thing he did was check Katerina’s vitals. It was no use paying for something which was about to expire. Then he took a step back and took his time gazing at Katerina, his eyes lingering on her long shapely legs, her perky breasts and finally her beautiful face.

“I’ve had her DNA checked and I can see the resemblance to Dmitriy but she is beautiful, an exquisite young woman. A virgin you say?” Reznik’s smile turned from pleasant to evil in a split second.

“She is everything we promised,” Jennifer said coolly.

Reznik put out his hand stoked Katerina’s calf and slid it up her thigh stopping where Jennifer had deliberately rucked up Katerina’s dress then he slipped his hand under her skirts.

“You don’t get to play with the toy until you buy it,” Jennifer said brusquely and stepped forward and pulled Reznik’s hand from under Katerina's dress.

Alexi was surprised at how strong the diminutive young woman was.

“Very well. Let’s make a deal,” Reznik took out his phone and worked the screen for a minute.

Jennifer’s phone pinged and she checked that the five million dollars had been transferred into the account she had set up for exactly this purpose.

Penelope now had probable cause to arrest Alexi Reznik for kidnapping and trafficking. The rest of the charges related to the murder of the girls in the container, people smuggling and sex trafficking could be added later once he was behind bars and the Federal prosecutors got involved.

Jennifer had a text drafted ready to send on her phone and she tapped ‘send’.

In the forest to the north of the warehouse two of Jennifer’s mercenaries who had been keeping Dan Murphy and Tim Morrow under constant surveillance since before they arrived at the warehouse silently moved in and injected a paralysing agent into their necks and they both fell to the forest floor dropping their weapons.

The five men that Reznik had concealed with high powered weapons were shot in the head by silenced sniper rifles.

Dmitriy Yakovich burst out of one of the rusty lockers and pointed a pistol at Alexi Reznik and Jennifer Jones ripped her Walther PPS M2 9mm out of her shoulder rig with lightning speed and thrust it in Penelope Bishop’s face.

Alexi Reznik had time to scream a Russian obscenity before Dmitriy Yakovich shot him four times in the face and he fell to the ground dead.

“Your weapon please Penelope,” Jennifer waggled the muzzle of her gun in Penelope’s face.

“You double crossing vicious cunt!” Penelope spat and reached for the weapon at her waist.

“Don’t do anything stupid please. Dan and Tim are alive and well. It would be a shame if you sacrificed your life for nothing,” Jennifer said sweetly.

Dmitriy was standing over Alexi Reznik’s dead body glaring at him. He had finally killed his most hated adversary.

Penelope handed her weapon to Jennifer butt first and Jennifer took it in her left hand, spinning it in her hand so that she held it by the grip, her finger resting along the trigger guard.

“You have done well my darling. We will take my daughter with us and the Americans can fight over Reznik’s carcass,” Dmitriy kicked Reznik’s lifeless body.

“Whatever you wish my love,” Jennifer smiled at Dmitriy and with rapid and skilled precision raised her left hand and shot Dmitriy four times in the chest.

“There you have it. All done nicely,” Jennifer said matter-of-factly as she ejected the magazine from Penelope’s pistol and handed it back to Penelope.

“Here is your story. Unbeknownst to us all Dmitriy had secreted himself in the locker at the place where we had arranged to arrest Alexi Reznik. Dmitriy leapt from the locker and shot his arch rival dead before you had a chance to take him down,” Jennifer applied the safety to her weapon but didn’t holster it.

“How did he know? How did he know where the exchange was taking place and that Katerina was his daughter?” Penelope was shocked and incredulous.

A wry smile crossed Jennifer’s face.

“You set this up!” Penelope’s face was contorted with rage.

“Of course I did. But everyone gets what they want. You and your cronies not only got Alexi Reznik, you personally took out the evil crime lord Dmitriy Yakovich. You will all be heroes,” Jennifer smiled.

“You killed Dmitriy,” Penelope whispered.

“At this very moment, those lieutenants in Dmitry’s Bratva who are not loyal to me are quietly disappearing. The corpses of Alexi’s men are being removed from the forest and Tim and Dan should be regaining consciousness in about an hour,” Jennifer went over to Dmitriy’s corpse and took the things she needed from him.

“What about Katerina? What about Katya?” Penelope was incredulous.

“Katerina is coming with me and will join her mother back at their house in New York,” Jennifer smiled.

“We have all been used by men. Sometimes they treat us well and sometimes they don’t. I think it’s time to see what happens when a woman runs things for a while,” Jennifer patted Penelope’s shoulder.

“You had me send Tim Morrow down to Brownsville and had Katya distract Dan Murphy while you set this up! You knew that they would never condone using Katerina as a lure to trap Reznik. You used me! You used Alice!” Penelope’s eyes filled with tears.

“I really do like you Penelope. You are so very much like me. But if you put a magazine in that weapon before Katerina and I leave the warehouse I will shoot you dead,” Jennifer said coldly as she helped Katerina up off the bed.

“Maybe we will meet again but it’s probably best that we don’t,” Jennifer said as she guided Katerina, who was still a little unsteady, out of the office.

Penelope didn’t move until she saw Jennifer drive away.

*****

The next day Katerina was reunited with her mother at her house in New York State. Katya had flown out on a commercial flight the morning of the exchange and Jennifer and Katerina flew out of Balwyn in a private jet. Jennifer had driven from the warehouse directly to Balwyn airport.

“Mother, you need to tell me about those missing years; the years when I lived far away from you. The years you keep shrouded in secrecy. There is no need to keep them secret anymore now that my father is dead. Tell me everything about the scorpion tattoo,” Katerina beseeched her mother.

“My Katerina… they were shameful times. I did things that you will despise me for. I loved a man who was unlovable who cast me aside when I no longer pleased him and another man who brought me pain and despair because of his self-centred actions,” Katya held her daughter close.

“Tell me mother. If you don’t; there will be a hole in my life that will never be filled,” Katerina pressed her hands against her mother’s chest and looked up into her mother’s deep blue eyes.

Her own blue eyes were rimmed with tears.

Katya took a deep breath and began.

“I was born in Rohoziv Ukraine and lived there with my mother. My mother was beautiful. Beauty runs in our family but it is a curse as well as a blessing. My father left us destitute and my mother’s boyfriend beat her regularly and had recently taken an unhealthy interest in me, stealing my underwear and sneaking around my bedroom door.”

“On my eighteenth birthday I ran away from home with dreams of becoming an actress in America. I had established an online relationship with a man claiming to be a scout for a theatrical agent in Hollywood and he sent me airline tickets to America…”

Katya told her daughter everything and when she had finished mother and daughter clung to each other and cried until they could cry no longer. Katya felt unburdened and Katerina felt empowered with knowledge.

*****

Jennifer Jones sat in the heavy teak and leather chair behind the antique pedestal desk made from quarter cut solid oak timbers with ornate brass fittings. The same desk that many times she had been bent over and fucked by Dmitriy, as had all the Girl Fridays before her. It was one of the many ways Dmitriy liked to extol his power.

Jennifer had already made arrangements to have the desk replaced. The chair too. The seat had been shaped by years of Dmitriy’s muscular buttocks sitting on it and Jennifer’s small but perfectly rounded ass was not comfortable on it.

But the desk and chair could wait; at least for now. Jennifer had more pressing matters to deal with. She needed to solidly cement her position as the new Pakhan of what had once been Dmitriy’s Bratva. Her bold play in eliminating Dmitriy and his hated rival Alexi Reznik, then seizing control of Dmitriy’s Bratva, was seen as an act of decisiveness, ruthlessness and bravado by the other Pakhans who headed up the Odessa and Russian mafia in the US. But there was a power vacuum left by Alexi Reznik’s demise and the other Pakhans were fighting over the carcass of Alexi’s Bratva.

This distraction had allowed Jennifer to ingratiate herself with the hierarchy in Russia and Ukraine, whose tentacles reached into every corner of the world.

There was only one other female Pakhan. She was a Serb who headed a Bratva based in Italy which had close ties to the Italian mafia. Jennifer was not a Balkan and she was a transgender woman and she was still young but her abilities spoke for themselves. She had a loyal following and those in her Bratva who were not loyal to her were no longer around.

Jennifer knew many things but what she knew most was that money talks and so long as her businesses prospered and she kicked money up to the hierarchy in the old Slavic states they would leave her alone. She would deal with the other US-based Pakhans when they had finished fighting over the remains of Reznik’s Bratva.

Jennifer was busy and more than a little annoyed when the guardhouse called to say that she had a visitor who insisted on seeing her.

Anyone approaching Jennifer’s property on the outskirts of LA would be impressed. Jennifer had overseen improvements to the property herself during her reign as Dmitriy’s PA but in those days she had never dreamt that the house would one day be hers.

The long driveway was protected by a manned guardhouse built into a substantial brick wall which ran along the borders of the property. Inside the walls were manicured lawns, landscaped gardens scattered with marble and sandstone sculptures and several fountains. The house itself was imposing but modern and stylish. It was obvious that whoever lived here had money and was important. There were men in suits patrolling the grounds and Jennifer had doubled the guard until things cooled down. There were also gardeners and household employees going about their business. The place was busy.

Jennifer had delegated the power to deal with routine business matters to her lieutenants but she was still a busy woman. Her vision was to empower her employees and reward them when appropriate to build trust and garner respect. Dmitriy’s outdated idiom of centralising all power in the Pakhan and ruling with an iron fist was obsolete but Jennifer was not averse to using brutality when it was called for. She knew that already she was being called the skorpion suka or ‘scorpion bitch’ behind her back. She liked the name and did nothing to deter its use.

Jennifer had a valet, Peter, who doubled as her personal bodyguard but she realised that she needed a PA; a Girl Friday to whom she could delegate those tasks that required diplomacy and tact and who understood her vagaries, principals and standards so that things got done the way she wanted them done. She also needed someone who would deal with her personal day-to-day minutia like telling this thick-headed minion guarding her front gate that she was not to be disturbed.

“Olav, I left strict instructions that I am not to be disturbed,” Jennifer snapped at the intercom.

“The girl says that her name is Katerina Kuznetsova and that she is a personal friend of yours,” Olav said, his accent still thick, having recently arrived from Kiev.

Jennifer had been on a recruiting drive to replace the men whom she had needed to eliminate because their loyalty to her was questionable after the change of regime.

Katerina was no longer using the nom de plume Katerina Walker and had taken her mother’s last name.

“Have her escorted to the house and Peter will meet her at the door,” Jennifer said and closed the connection.

Jennifer had not seen Katerina since she had used her to lure ‘The Jackal’ and Dmitriy to their deaths. She knew that Katerina knew that Dmitriy was her real father and that she was doing well with her studies at Rutgers and visited her mother Katya at every opportunity. Like her predecessor, Jennifer had spies everywhere and kept a close eye on anyone who with whom she had had dealings… good or bad.

Peter brought Katerina into the room and discretely left. Jennifer was shocked at how much Katerina had grown to resemble her mother. She was even dressed the same.

Katerina towered over Jennifer standing a little over six feet tall in heels. A stunning slim young woman with jet black hair cut into a severe bob which accentuated her deep blue expressive eyes. She had pert breasts and long legs clad in gossamer-sheer nylons and was wearing fashionable business suit. Her face was narrow, with accentuated cheekbones, a pointed chin and small nose. Her skin was pale and she wore heavy eye makeup and blood-red lipstick.

Jennifer came around from behind the desk, stood on tippytoes and kissed Katerina on the cheek. She could smell Katerina’s perfume: Dior Poison, the only scent that Jennifer and Katerina wore. The same scent that all of Dmitriy’s Girl Fridays were mandated to wear.

Rather than sit behind her desk, Jennifer led Katerina to two comfortable lounge chairs and they sat opposite each other.

“You are the spitting image of your mother,” Jennifer smiled at Katerina who blushed.

“Thank you Jennifer. I know that you are busy so I’ll get to the point. I wanted to thank you for being a benefactor to my mother and I,” Katerina said.

With Dmitriy gone Jennifer had freed Katya from servitude and granted her a substantial stipend for life. To Jennifer’s surprise, rather than retire, Katya had asked to take over Vlad Volkov’s business dealings and Jennifer had agreed and made her a Bratok.

“It was the least I could do given all your mother has done for me and for what I put you through in Balwyn,” Jennifer did not feel guilty but she gave credit where it due.

Katerina looked at the piles of correspondence on Jennifer’s desk and the flashing lights on her desk phone. Jennifer’s cell phone was buzzing incessantly with incoming calls and text messages.

“You appear to be snowed under. You haven’t appointed a PA yet? Mother said the term often used was Girl Friday,” Katerina smiled and nodded at the jumble of paperwork on Jennifer’s desk.

“Katya told you about being Dmitriy’s Girl Friday?” Jennifer was a little surprised and she reached out and patted Katerina’s knee.

“Yes and all that that entailed,” Katerina said soberly.

“Dmitriy had his demands, but most Girl Fridays fared well after they were replaced,” Jennifer said a little tentatively.

“And some not so well,” Katerina said gruffly.

“I’m sorry for what happened to your mother Katerina. I’m sorry that your formative years were spent mostly without her but I have recompensed her as best I can,” Jennifer said curtly.

“Oh you misunderstand me Ms Jones. I’m not here complaining. I’m here because I want a job,” Katerina smiled.

“Don’t be silly. You have your studies to complete,” Jennifer laughed but it was cut short when she realised that Katerina was serious.

“I’m not much older than my mother was when she was brought to Dmitriy and became his PA and I’m still a virgin,” Katerina said defiantly.

“I’m intelligent and articulate and I can be ruthless; you know that. My mother has told me about the business and what she hasn’t told me I’ll be quick to learn,” Katerina continued.

“Yes all that is true but being a virgin is no longer a prerequisite,” Jennifer smiled wanly at Katerina.

“Maybe not, but surely you would like to deflower me yourself before you put me to work,” Katerina licked her lips seductively and stared into Jennifer's glacial green eyes fascinated by the light bluish heterochromia in her right eye.

“Do you know what you are asking?” Jennifer was astonished.

“I told you. My mother told me everything,” Katerina stood and straightened her skirt and kept her head bowed.

Jennifer stood and stepped into Katerina and lifted her chin and looked up into her pretty face.

“Oh Katerina… if only I could,” Jennifer pressed her lips to Katerina’s and kissed her softly.

“I’m sorry that I’m not worthy,” Katerina broke the kiss and turned away.

“Peter will escort you back to the gate,” Jennifer sighed.

She buzzed Peter into the room and he led Katerina away and Jennifer sat down behind her desk and tried to continue her work where she had left off.

“Fuck it!” she hissed.

She buzzed the main gate on the intercom.

“Tell Peter to bring Katerina back to the house. Tell him to bring her to my private quarters,” Jennifer said curtly.

A smile crossed Jennifer’s face.

She looked down and saw that she had tented her skirt.

The End

Author’s Note Thank you for taking the time to read my story now I’d like you to take a minute or two to leave a comment. It won’t take you long but will give me enormous joy as I love to know what people think of my stories, good or bad. Your loving sweet transvestite writer… Michele Nylons