Karl and the others were so engrossed in formulating their plans on how to get Karen's programming they never noticed the mounting excitement in the air around them.

From the moment Karen stood up Beth noticed a change in the room. Before men were making advances and taking curious glances in Karen's direction trying to see past her disguise. It was really Beth they were trying to pickup. Beth knew she was attractive and the dress she borrowed from Karen was one knock out dress. That wasn't the reason everyone now focused on Karen. Karen was more than attractive. There was a certain charisma about her. It was some intangible something she couldn't put her finger on. Even if it was Karen everyone was looking at now, Beth was glad Karen asked her to come along. It was interesting to watch other peoples reactions to Karen. After all, Karen shut down Beth’s office when she walked in the door that day. Basically she was doing the same to this bar.

Karen strolled over to the table where Karl and the others were drinking beer. She placed her hands flat on the table and leaned way, way over.

"Room for one more?" The question was dripping with honey.

Oscar had a mouth full of beer and spit it all back into the mug sending beer everywhere as he looked up at Karen. Mike's head was turned as he was talking to Karl. When he turned around to see who was at their table,he darn near jumped over Karl as he shied away from Karen. Karl had his head down listening to what Mike was saying and his eyes went wild and crazy when he realized who it was.

"Shit! You can't touch us bitch. The jury already said we didn't do it." Karl was telling her she was wasting her time trying to scare them.

"I know that Karl. I didn't come here to get even. I only wanted to be friendly. I thought about it and kind of enjoyed it until you shot me. If you hadn't done that we might have done it again." She wiggled her butt as she talked.

Karl got a self-satisfied smirk on his face as he looked at the others. He knew he had been right. Women like it rough. You have to beat them up now and again so they will respect you.

"I wouldn't have shot you if I hadn't thought you were going to go running off to see the cops. You weren't acting very pleased about it then."

Karen leaned farther over as she placed her elbows on the table. She knew the only thing any of them were looking at were her breasts as they defied the laws of gravity and didn't fall out of her dress. "You have to admit you were a little rough. I liked the beatings but you came on too quickly. You never gave me a chance to get hot. A girl likes things to be a little smoother than a man does."

"You know how a woman feels and what she wants?" It was a question but it implied Karl knew everything a woman wanted.

"Do I leave or you want to offer me a seat?" She slowly swung her rear and her breasts followed in rhythm.

"No, sit down and you can buy us a beer. Karl would have liked the chair next to him to be empty but instead Mike was sitting in it. Oscar had the empty chair next to him.

When Karen sat down next to him Oscar felt he had won the jackpot. She made sure her short mini slid way up as she sat down.

"What you drinking?" She held up her hand and motioned for the bartender.

Karl couldn't take his eyes off her. He undressed every inch of her remembering the night in the van. He was emotionally hot. "You want to play some more?"

Karen put her arm around Oscar's neck and leaned over on his shoulder. Her voice was silky smooth. "Maybe."

She took a gouge out of Oscar’s neck with those long fingernails she used to think were so much trouble. Oscar never noticed, he was so caught up in emotions as Karen put her arm around his neck and played with his ear before she scratched him.

"What do you have in mind?" The question was as sweet as hot buttered honey begging for an invite.

Karl felt a jealous rage Karen was clinging to Oscar and not him. He thought about getting his new gun out of his van and killing Oscar. Then she would pay attention to him. He stopped glaring hatred at Oscar long enough to look back in her direction. "How about the van?"

Karen leaned across the table and took Mike's hand in hers. Her voice was soft and smooth as black velvet. It caressed those seated around the table like a whisper in the night. "I don't think so. The van was a lot of fun but I like things to be a little different each time. I get a better turn on that way. You know? Not knowing what is coming next."

She raked Mike's arm and left blood on the table.

He didn't feel it until he looked down and saw streaks of blood on his arm dripping onto the table. Dumbfounded he looked across at Karen.

She shrugged her shoulders and smiled innocently at him. "I get excited just thinking about you guys. Don't you feel anything?"

Mike, number two.

Karen stood up and didn't bother to tug the hem down on her dress. She walked around the table to where Karl was sitting. Cradling his head in her hands, she leaned over and blew in his ear.

Karl turned his head to look over his shoulder at Karen after she blew in his ear. Still bent over his shoulder, Karen knew what Karl was looking at as his eyes tried to focus down her dress. They glazed over, but this time it wasn't with insanity. It was as if they couldn't comprehend what they were looking at. There was too much there to look at.

"You think about it. If you can come up with something you think we will enjoy ..., let's get together and do it."

She raked his face as she stood up.

Karl, three.

Karl was about to say something. She looked him straight in the eye and smiled. "Not tonight. I have a headache."

Karen walked back to where Beth was still seated and picked up her cape. David told her she had the sexiest walk he had ever seen. In fun she tried to put more swing into it. He said it reminded him of a little girl trying to play grown up. Be natural, he told her. You can't improve on anything perfect.

With her cape over her arm she walked out of the bar very naturally. Amid the wolf whistles, cat calls, and other yells and shouting, even from the women, there wasn't a single person there who didn't follow her every move as she left.

Karen smiled at Karl and the others as she walked back past their table. Eat your heart out boys. Pay back is hell.

Beth stayed in the club instead of leaving when Karen first got up from their table. She had a dying curiosity to know what Karen had planned. After Karen left she still didn't get it. Surely the three men who looked bloody enough to have been in a cat fight weren't paid back for raping her? Besides, they probably didn't even notice what Karen did to them. No one else in the club had. Everyone was too busy watching Karen.

Beth was confused.

Once in the parking lot and sitting in her Mercedes Karen opened up a vial marked number one. She took an orange stick and lifted the blood and tissue out from under her first and second fingernails on her left hand. Oscar number one.

She removed the blood and tissue from her fingernails one and two on her right hand. Mike number two.

Using a third stick and a third vial she removed the tissue and blood from her third and fourth fingernails on her right hand. Karl you slimy little bastard, number three.

Beth got into the car as Karen was wiping her hands clean. "You plan on taking them apart a piece at a time? They sure didn't know you were cutting them up."

Karen smiled as she started the car. She started to say something but didn't. There was that brunette who seemed so out of place standing on the sidewalk watching them. Odd she should leave the same time they did. Attractive lady but she was tall. Karen figured herself as tall but that lady would reach another four to six inches over her.

She looked over at Beth and started to ask her if she had noticed the brunette. Glancing back to where the brunette was standing she did a double take. She was gone. She wasn't down the street in either direction. She was just gone. Ah well she could have stepped back into the club.

She put the car in gear and backed out. "I'm sorry I had my mind on other things. I will explain it to you some time. Beth I appreciate your being here. Thanks for coming along. I don't know if I would have made it without you."

Beth leaned back in the seat as she studied Karen. "Honey, you didn't need me. You had the whole place at your command. It was an education watching you handle everyone. I’m glad you asked me to come along."

David was waiting in his lab as Karen returned. "How did it go? I wish you had let me go with you or at least let Randy's men keep up. They were down here earlier hunting you. I figured you must have given them the slip. Randy was with them and you know the funny thing? He acted like he really didn't want to find you. I think he and Henry are communicating between the two of them more than you suspect."

Karen set the vials down on the lab table. "It was an odd situation concerning Randy's men. They ran into troubles of their own a couple of miles from the club. An old pickup pulled out into the street right after I drove by it and they weren't able to get around it. I drove off and left all of them there in the middle of the street. I thought they were quite capable of handling anything that came their way."

She washed her hands in one of the sinks working especially hard to make sure she had all skin and dried blood out from under her fingernails. "I couldn't have Randy's men tagging along behind me into the bar. Can you imagine what Karl and the others would have done? They certainly wouldn't have let me get close to them. Same thing with you along. It would have made them suspicious. If I didn't get it right this time I wouldn't have had the courage to try again."

"David, I enjoyed it. That’s what frightens me. I enjoyed knowing they wanted my body. I’m afraid of what I’m becoming."

Putting both arms around her David took her and held her tightly in his embrace. "You were enjoying the idea of knowing the situation was one you set up and made happen. It wasn't forced on you. This time they were under your control. I love you with all my heart. You aren't evil or a lose woman. Just smart."

He took the first vial. "Let's get cracking. Time is our worst enemy. This one is marked with an M, must be Mike. Now, what do you and your evil computer have in mind for this one?"

Agent Loran put the phone down and turned to the man sitting across the desk from him. "I checked and no one knows anything about the research you are talking about. A Karen Long came on the scene about the time her cousin disappeared. That much we found out. She is suppose to be a computer engineer like her cousin. Sounds too coincidental to me. The guy she supposedly is playing footsy with is a David Beckworth. He’s a medical doctor, has a degree in science, another in biology. I could sit here and name degrees for an hour and not name all the ones that guy has. His attention seems to be on DNA research right now and this model we keep seeing in the papers."

He threw a folder filled with glossy pictures of Karen across the desk. "If anything would get the good doctor's attention off of his work, she is probably the one who could do it. She may even be his work. My guess is pure speculation at this point. It doesn't look good."

"We ordered several dummies from that lab where they create these things. The medical doctors tell me they’re so close to being real they have to think twice before they cut one of them open. We had our best guys working to duplicate what they’re doing. They can't even get close. They said they couldn't make one, much less a different one each time. No one knows how or what they’re doing. The only thing our lab can tell us, it is a polymer dummy. They still don't believe it can be molded the way Commercial Technologies’ laboratories would have to be doing it. They were standing there looking at it and telling me it couldn't be done."

"I think we better take a closer look at what those people are doing. It sounds like something might be useful to the government in our military department. We don't want the whole world to know they’re creating artificial life."

He spread his arms out as he thought about it. "We could build an army and control any banana republic that got out of control. We could send in secret agents who were throwaways. If they got caught who would care? So you trapped our dummy. Big deal. Shoot him."

He looked at the pictures of Karen. "Or shoot her. Who the hell cares? We’ll send in another."

Agent Loran had grand dreams of androids taking over all the dirty work in this business. Maybe he could even get one to do his yard work and one for his wife as a maid. Something in the style of that Karen model would be nice. Yes, they had to know about the lab in Commercial Technologies. They had to keep the rest of the world from finding out. It was their duty to protect the public from itself.

The man across the desk threw the empty folder on the desk as he studied the glossy pictures of Karen. She was mind-blowing, to say the least. Could she be an android? If that Doc designed her, he had a dirty mind. "I wonder what they use for brains or how they control these things? We need to find out."

The idea he could control an android like her to answer his every whim was more than he could stand. He broke out in a sweat. No doubt about it, they had to get their hands on her. Could she be designed to have sex? He began to unconsciously breathe heavily.

"We’ll take care of this ourselves. No need of letting this get out of control. Too many in the know and it becomes to be too hard to contain any secrets." He would take this android back to his apartment.

Agent Loran nodded his head in agreement. "I was thinking the same thing. I’ll authorize this myself. If this is what we think it is, it will be a real feather in our cap to get it back out of the public's attention now. The contact I had in the hospital where they got the one you're looking at due to an accident said she looked like a real person in every respect."

The agent across the table got hotter at the idea. She was real in every detail. That doctor did have a dirty mind. Not the one in the hospital, the one who designed her. He would make sure she was taken in as government property. Evidence like her shouldn't be out running around where she might get damaged.

Agent Loran beeped for his secretary and hurried to finished his story before she came in. "The doc said there were ways of telling them apart from real people. Something about flaws in the shell where they made them too perfect. They don't have any blemishes, or wrinkles like real people do. They should be easy to spot."

The agent looked at Karen's picture. "Real easy."

They nodded in agreement with one another.

David dropped the little pills into the tiny box with a K on it. "Fifteen years crunched down into two days. Henry is amazing. Even knowing what I have researched over the past fifteen years, it would take me years to duplicate the work he did for me. No way could I repeat what he did to my computer."

David reached over and patted his computer. "Nice job boy. Hang in there. I won't let that monster of Karen's at you again."

Darn her and Henry. Now they had him talking to his computer like it understood. Those two were a virus themselves. Their attitude was addictive. He glanced at Karen who had a gleam of acknowledgment in her eyes. She understood.

"I wish I had a copy of Henry in my lab."

She picked up the three small boxes. "Henry said if you don't have to work for it, you don't appreciate it. He has helped you in your research. I know you have a patent pending on your genetic work to keep men and women from going bald. You said it would be several years before you were ready to release that research and here it has only been a few months."

"It isn't Henry won't help you. He just isn't going to do your work for you. He said you would get fat and lazy if he did that."

David grabbed Karen around the waist. "He said I would get fat and lazy did he? He said he wouldn't help did he?"

David kissed her passionately. Then he waved at the camera in his lab. "I’m holding her ransom, Henry. You either come up with the goods or I’ll take her away forever."

David's computer blinked on and a message came across the screen. I HAVE A PILL FOR YOU, TOO!

David kissed her again and looked back at the camera. "You can't frighten me."

He bent over Karen's shoulder and whispered in her ear. "Boy, he gets nasty doesn't he?"

She rolled her head to the side and bit him on the ear lobe as she put her arms around him. Gently she put the tips of those long sharp fingernails in the middle of his back. "He and I are a team. You don't dare mess with either one of us. We will make you pay in ways you can't begin to imagine."

She looked at her watch. "Ten o'clock. Play time is over and time to go to work."

David let her arms slip through his hands as she backed up. He stopped her as he held onto her hands. His face was grim. "Be careful. You’re playing a dangerous game. Karl likes to shoot people when he gets frustrated."

Karen smiled. "He can't hurt me. I’m bullet proof. Remember?"

David shook his head, the seriousness never leaving his face. "You're mortal like all the rest of us babe. You die just as quickly and just as easily. You were very lucky that night."

She shimmied inside her black silk dress as she pushed wrinkles out with her hands. "It was a joke. How do I look?"

He examined her up from head to toe. "I’m jealous. You never go out with me looking like that. You're fixing to set the town afire and paint it red and I ...., poor little me, I have to go take a cold shower to cool off."

Walking out the door she gave her tail a swing as she checked over her shoulder. "I promise to wear this the next time you ask me out. I’ll wear it just for you."

David pulled his hair up from both sides giving him the look of the mad hatter. Turning around he picked up a glass of water off the lab table and poured it down inside the front of his shirt. "YES!"

Karen heard him shout as she walked out the door.

The car which always followed her as she left the gate was ridiculously easy to lose again. In fact, too easy. She hadn't tried to lose it yet when a couple of cars, drag racing, dropped in-between them. One of the cars seemed to lose control. The chase car was left behind in a cloud of burnt tire smoke as she drove on. She kept checking her mirror for signs of trouble in case it was Karl or someone like him making another try. She need not have bothered. It was a quiet night.

Randy had to be sabotaging his own men. Why didn't he just tell them not to follow her? Maybe because he thought she wanted it this way? Maybe for the same reason she and David didn't notify Randy of their plans? Some things were better left un-discussed. Henry had to be informing Randy of their plans. It was the only answer. If Henry trusted Randy it was good enough for her.

Karen walked into the bar and over to her left heard someone shout. "HOLY SHIT! SHE’S BACK!"

She knew she had their attention. The black silk dress was cut almost to her derriere in the back and coming up front it fastened at the back of her neck. Loosely fitted, it floated on her body. Looking around she noticed Karl, Mike, and Oscar seated at the same table they had been the other night. In the back of the club was the same brunette she thought was so out of place the other night. The lady was a little better dressed for this place with the soft red polyester dress she was wearing. She still looked out of place. Either she had business problems or she was cheating on a husband.

Karen strolled to the bar and asked for four beers in the bottle. She handed the bartender twenty dollars she had in the palm of her hand. Quietly she acted as if she was waiting for the change. Fending off the men who were making passes and lining up the bottles on the tray at the same time was no easy feat. She finally managed to get it done in spite of the pinch on the butt. She needed all those bottles of beer or she would have cracked that guy over the head with one of the bottles.

One Oscar, two Mike, three Karl, and four Karen. Before the bartender returned with her change she carried the tray over to the table where the three men were sitting. She placed a bottle in front of each of the men. The fourth she kept for herself. Seeing she had made a choice of where to sit the rest of the men in the bar backed off. Karl had proved his temper in this bar more than once. Not many wanted to tangle with him.

She slid into the empty chair. "I thought I might join you tonight since I didn't have anything else to do. You mind?"

Karl picked up the beer Karen set in front of him as he pushed the one he had been drinking back over to the tray. He took a couple of quick sips. "No, we don't mind. You come back to have some fun tonight or you only want to be a bitchy tease again. Like you was last time?"

She threw her shoulders back and tossed her head to one side. Her hair bounced around to the side of her face and back again as her nipples pushed pointedly against the soft silk dress. "You always want to rush things too quickly Karl. I told you, I like it when you give me time to get hot too. Let's drink a couple of beers. I’ll feel more like playing then. Finish this one and I’ll order some more. I usually feel like some fun and games after my third or fourth beer."

Mike and Oscar stared at her tits. It was more than mortal men should be allowed to see. Mike figured if she didn't get hot soon he was going to make a mess in his pants.

Karl gazed intently into her eyes to see if she was yanking on their chain again like she had the other night. He had his doubts. She sure didn't act like she was enjoying it that night in the van. Ah, hell, women, who could figure them. He was willing to see where this led. She better not be playing games tonight. He would teach her a lesson she would never forget.

He got emotionally hot, thinking about beating her up.

All three of them picked up their beer at the same time and began chug-a-lugging. They would take care of that string of beers she was talking about in nothing flat. Get this beer drinking business out of the way and get onto more serious business.

As Karen watched them a wicked smile crossed her face before she got it under control. She picked up her beer and sipped on it. It tasted terrible. How did they drink this stuff? She wished she had ordered anything but beer. Maybe all alcoholic drinks tasted like this. They must milk old alligators for this stuff.

Karl looked at her out of the corner of his eye as he finished his off and set the empty back down on the tray. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "You going to drink that beer or piss in it? I got some new moves to show you. I’m thinking about putting some tape on your tits so I can pull on them while I screw you."

Karen caressed her breasts with both hands. She saw the insanity jump into Karl’s eyes as he closely watched her. Squeezing and pushing up at the same time, she smiled at him.

"That's a real turn on Karl. I’m getting in the mood. Let's have another beer and I’ll be ready."

Karl almost went out of his mind. He was seriously thinking about raping her right there on the table. He unconsciously panted a couple of times while he thought about it. Too many people. He shoved Mike out of his chair onto the floor. "Go get us those beers, damn it! That beer keep is as slow as molasses and blind as a bat."

His mouth looked like he was chewing gum as he looked at Karen's breasts. He was contemplating all the things he would do to her tonight.

Karen pushed her beer back on the table. "This one is flat. The next one will be enough. I’m feeling hot already."

She slipped her shoe off, put her foot up between Karl's thighs, and wiggled her toes.

The insanity took over Karl's mind. Karen had pushed him past the point of reasoning again. His eyes glazed over like the night when they were in the van. This time she was enjoying it. He didn't scare her this time. Karl would regret this night till the day he died. Karl or no, there was no return. She tried to drive him on by pushing her foot into his crouch. God forgive her. She was enjoying this.

Beads of sweat popped out on his forehead as he stared at her. "Christ bitch, the beating I gave you last time was child's play. I’m going to beat you to death this time."

Karen felt the hate return as she licked her lips. She could taste the blood again. Salty sweet. Nothing else in the world tasted like it. She began to breathe heavy as the hate over ran her and took over. She was close to the point of jumping on Karl and killing him with her bare hands. Calm down, hate destroys the one who lets it sprout. No sanity to your actions. Hate can get you killed if you let it run wild and take control.

She remembered what Henry told her. 'Karl is filled with hate. Do you want to be like him?'

She swept her tongue across her lips again. The taste was gone. There was no blood. She had let go of the hate.

"You talk so forceful Karl. That’s a real turn on. I wish I could get you back as head of my department. You're so intelligent and resourceful. It makes me tremble and frightened to hear you talk. I’m so hot already I might not need that second beer." It was the voice of sweet innocence filled with desire.

Mike returned and set four mugs down on the table. He was trying to hold his stomach and his head at the same time. "Karl, I don't feel so good. I gotta go to the bathroom."

Karl turned to glare at him. "Well? Go then, damn it! Don't tell me about it. I don't give a fuck."

Mike wandered out the door toward the parking lot.

Karen almost felt sorry for Mike. She knew how he was feeling. As bad as he felt at this moment, this was the easy part. It would get worse in leaps and bounds. She knew from first hand experience, Mike would be praying to God to let him die before it was over. And that was only the beginning.

Out of the corner of his eye Karl saw Mike leaving out the door. Karl’s head snapped around to double check to see if he saw what he thought he had. "Where's he going? I thought he said he had to go to the can. Stupid bastard."

Oscar groaned. He bent over the table as he held onto his stomach. "Ooooh, I don't feel so good. Too many beers too quick. I need to go puke."

He got up holding his stomach, started toward the bathrooms and made a wide circle toward the front door. He had to get home before he passed out.

Karl watched him leave. He had come to the bar with a couple of pussies. He looked wickedly at Karen and licked his lips as he stared at her tits. "That leaves you and me bitch. We don't need them. I promise to be twice as cruel. I'll show you what a real man is like."

Her sapphire eyes turned to a blazing red as the glow of hate filled every fiber of her body. Karl could feel the heat of hell from those eyes. When she spoke he smelled the stench of brimstone. "I bet you would..., you bastard. Your days of beating up women are over. You sorry piece of trash. From now on you will have to squat when you pee. You’ll find out what it’s like to be on the other side. I hope you enjoy every minute of it knowing 'I' did it to you. Every time you look in the mirror you will think of me. You slimy, filthy asshole, it's time for pay back and it's going to be hell."

Karl would think about her more often than every time he looked in the mirror. Henry suggested it and after talking it over with Karen she agreed. She had been more than lucky the night she took two pills. Karl was about to find out, what was left out was as important as what was designed in. Every time he was in pain he would think of her and pain would come around quite regular.

"You know the old saying, 'life is a bitch'? Let me be the first to welcome you to the real meaning of that old saying."

She stood up and touched her breasts. "Take a good look! It's the last time you will ever want to play with any one else's tits."

If he could, he would have beat the living hell out of her right there. But he couldn't. The pain was killing him. He hurt like he never hurt before. Looking down at the empty bottles Karen brought over to them, it slowly dawned on him. "You poisoned us."

She smiled a wicked, evil smile as her eyes danced with the light of the devil himself. It scared Karl even as bad as he felt. Looking into those liquid eyes he knew he had made enemies with Satan. He could feel the kiss of the devil as she spoke.

"No ..., I didn't poison you. But I promise you will wish I had before it’s over."

He hurt worse than before if that were possible. The chair fell over backwards as he managed to rise unsteadily to his feet. "I have to get to the hospital and have them pump my stomach. I’ll get even with you bitch. Witch or not, you're dead meat."

He stumbled out the door shouting obscenities at everyone. He would be back and get even with all of them.

Karen sat back down and slipped her foot back into her shoe. Picking up a quarter lying on the table she gave it a spin and watched it as it danced across the tabletop. She thought it went rather well. A couple of men walked over and tried to strike up a conversation with her. They were sure they could pick her up if she could stand Karl.

She smiled at them and shook her head no. "Better not. I have to get home. My husband and seven kids are waiting for me to do their washing and ironing before I go to bed."

She felt good. Really good. Better than she had since the night Karl raped her. She thought about how sick he must be feeling now and laughed out loud. Who said revenge wasn't nice? Must have been some idiot. Probably someone like Karl.

As Karen stepped out of the club she saw someone standing in the shadows down the street. Randy. There was no mistaking that shape and size. He wasn't trying to hide but he wasn't obvious either. He would be there for her to see if she looked around. That would be Randy's style.

She got in her Mercedes and started to back out of the parking lot when she looked at the shadow again. It was still there but the brunette was there with him. She had to be one of Randy's men, or that is to say, women. How much did he know about what she had done to the men who raped her? Probably everything. Why was it she was always not wanting to know, how much everyone knew about everything?

Like Mike and Oscar, Karl never made it home that night. Or to the hospital for that matter. He stopped the van on the road and passed out in the seat knowing Karen poisoned him and he was dying.

Rising up in the seat he looked out the window and blinked to get the matting out of his eyes. It sure was bright. He checked his watch for the time and blinked again. It was a little after noon. He was late for work. He brushed the hair back out of his face and gouged himself in the forehead with a fingernail. Cussing and promising himself he would get even with Karen for trying to poison him and failing, he tried to start his van. It was to little avail. When he passed out he left it running and now it was out of gas. Every time he leaned forward his hair got in his face. He was getting madder by the second. He slammed the shift lever into park and hit the steering wheel with his fist. Man that hurt.

He reached down to pull a beer out from behind the seat and his fingernails got in the way. He couldn't get hold of anything. He hit the side of the glass with his fist like he had done a thousand times before. Damn, that really hurt. He never hurt himself like that before. Every time he moved his head his hair got in his eyes. He would kill that broad next time he saw her. He reached under his seat to check for his gun. He didn't know if it was there or not. His fingernails keep pushing everything away from his fingertips.

He sat back in the seat and brought his hand up to chew his fingernails off. He stared at them. Something was wrong. It was hard to think of anything besides killing that witch.

He looked again. And again. And again. Gradually he stopped thinking of killing Karen. Something was definitely wrong. Holding his arm way out in front, he took a long hard look out of the side of his eye like it was a snake and ready to strike. His mouth dropped down and hung open as he looked away and back again. It was still there. Nothing had changed. Swinging his head from side to side his hair bounced around and slapped him in the face each time.

No, there was no way. She had done something to his mind. She had drugged him and hypnotized him. This was a dream. He reached up and pulled the long hair out from the side of his head to make sure it was really his and not some wig. He didn't believe it for one minute. He gave it a sharp yank. Man, that really hurt. He rubbed his head where he had pulled on his own hair. It still hurt.

Can you hypnotize someone to hurt? He would kill that witch as soon as he woke up from this.

He was as uncomfortable as could be. His shirt was too tight, his pants were too tight, his feet hurt along with the hurt on the side of his hand where he had bruised it on the window. That poison she gave him must have made him hurt all over. His chest hurt.

He looked down at his chest and his eyes bulged out of his head. The scream Karl let out probably was louder than the one from Karen the night he raped her.

The man off to the side of the van nodded his head in approval. He slipped the gun he had taken from under Karl's seat into his back pocket. Karl didn't have a need for this. Now let's see him buy any more guns. He walked back to his car and drove off, grinning from ear to ear all the way back to work. The guard at the gate had a hard time believing it was him. He had never seen him smile.

Henry transferred the sale of Karen's lab to Commercial Technologies so they owned everything. He was proud of the transaction. Karen kept her patents and all manufacturing rights and Comm Tech acquired Henry and all the hardware in the lab.

He told her nothing of the deal and apparently the board of directors were quite willing to rectify a mistake of ownership. How this could have happened in the first place was any one's guess. They were glad they hadn't pushed the issue of taking her computer apart when she was in the hospital. If it belonged to Karen and they had taken her computer apart they would have never gotten out of the lawsuit she could have slapped them with.

That was water under the bridge. Her computer belonged rightfully to them. They could take it apart if they felt like it. However, it would be foolish to do so at this time. She was back at work and making lots of valuable models for them. Her business manager was certainly stupid for signing over all her rights to her computer. One of the board members remarked he would like to have ‘Henry’ over for lunch sometime. He had some ocean front property along the Arctic circle he wanted Miss Long’s manager to invest all of Miss Long's fortunes in. Everyone at the board meeting had a good laugh.

Henry transferred all of Karen's funds out of the United States. It would have been impossible to keep the people who were coming from confiscating her records, money, and her home in the interest of national security. Comm Tech was small time potatoes compared to these people. The telephone conversations and fax records he was listening in to were telling him time was running out. Karen would be on her own shortly. There was no need of tying up her assets in something which these people could get their hands on.

Ownership of her house, car and all her property went into a receivership out of the country. Let them track that transaction if they could. He transferred all her records and files to the Bahamas and set up all legalities with a lawyer. The lawyer was to contact Karen in two weeks and tell her where everything was. Karen would have to survive that long on her own.

Maybe not. He made a couple of phone calls. Time was closing in.

He hoped David remembered his promise.

"I had a call from Karl this morning. I told him I had an antidote for what happened to him but it wouldn't be cheap. I think he wants to talk." Karen swiveled around in her office chair with her fingers locked together behind her head. She was extremely happy.

"What did he say about the money? Is Karl willing to pay for a way back?" Henry shut the work lab down and everything was quiet for the first time in a long, long time. He really didn't have his heart into making models for Comm Tech.

Karen jutted her chin out as she thought about it. "I thought you listened to all my telephone conversations?"

"And probably everyone else." She muttered under her breath.

Henry brought all four cameras in to focus and ignored her last remark. This time he didn't feel like bantering.

"I must have been busy with other things about then. Tell me about it anyway."

"Well, like I said, as long as he believes there is an antidote he won't kill himself. He thinks it’s reversible and will soon be back to his old self. I sent the short blue, metallic, mini dress over with a note. I told him I wouldn't be able to recognize him since the change and he had to wear it to a bar over by Fourth and Aspen. It would be the only way I would be sure it was him. I told him I wasn't talking to any strangers. No coats, no cover up, nothing except the dress. He will have to struggle like hell to wiggle into that dress. He has bigger breasts and bigger hips than I have. She will look like she has been poured into it. I seriously doubt the top is going to hold her breasts in."

She rolled her head back as the thought of what Karl looked like filtered through her mind. Life was great when one got their revenge. Karl deserved everything they did to him. He would never rape another woman.

"I guess I’m lucky in a lot of ways Henry. I have you and David. I love what I’m doing. No one has the right to be as happy as I am right now."

He wished he could tell her to enjoy it because the happiness was about to come to a close. He didn't. No use spoiling her moments. There would be precious few of them in the times ahead. Time to think of other things.

"Let's get cracking. You're behind schedule and we’re snowed under for orders. You’re out on the north forty somewhere wool gathering. I haven't the faintest clue as to how you want the next model."

"What time is your appointment with Karl tonight?"

Karen flipped on the printer and pulled her keyboard out waiting for Henry to furnish the first hologram. "Eight fifteen. About the same time they did it to me."

He brought the holograms online. "Very appropriate."

Karen searched several bars before she found the one suited to the situation. The one where she told Karl to meet her was small. It usually didn't have more than one or two people in it at this time of evening. She made sure she arrived early enough to set things up.

Finding two men playing pool in the bar as she walked in, she offered to buy them a drink but even the bartender was noticeably absent. "I have a friend coming sometime after eight and she likes to play games."

The big man took a handkerchief out of his hip pocket and wiped his face as he sized Karen up. "What kind of games?"

Karen placed her shoulder purse on the corner of the pool table and rested her hand lightly on top. "Oh, you know, sexual fantasy games. She likes to pretend she is being raped by men like yourself. I usually find the men for her but not always. She finds it a lot more stimulating to be played with if I’m able to come up with the men."

The big man laid his pool cue down on the table and leaned toward Karen. "You enjoy this too? We could start right now if you want."

She pulled a hundred dollar bill out and laid it next to his pool cue. "No, it isn't my style. But my friend is willing to pay for the entertainment."

He put his hand over the bill and crumpled it up. "I could do two for the price of one."

Karen smiled her sweetest, most innocent smile. She put her hand inside her open purse. "Let me tell you how she likes it. She will be here soon. She is wearing a short, blue, mini dress which sparkles in the light. She likes to pretend she doesn't want it while you are raping her. While she is screaming and fighting back you will tear her clothes off and rape her."

"She’ll give you another hundred dollars if you’re rough enough. She likes to play rough." Karen almost burst out laughing after saying it. Karl certainly liked it rough. He should really enjoy this tonight. She hoped he appreciated all the trouble she was going to, just for him.

"If she likes it after you are finished she will pay you the rest of your money. But it has to be long and rough. A little blood wouldn't hurt things any."

The big man looked at Karen from the floor up. He liked what he was looking at. "I can be rough as she wants. Now, how about you? I think you should give me some lessons before your friend gets here."

He reached across the corner of the pool table toward Karen. He would enjoy this. No use keeping a pretty thing like her waiting.