Chapter 17 - Daniel & Cloe

Once he was outside the engineering building, Walker took a moment to pause and catch his breath. He wasn’t out of breath, but was still in disbelief. Leaning over the entrance guard rail he pulled the sheet of paper that he had taken from the printer out of his back pocket. It had just been sitting there in the printer tray just asking to be taken. Looking at it again, he still could barely accept what he was seeing.

Karson had managed to transform thick, molasses-like biticum into light, sweet crude oil. He could think of a number of countries that wouldn’t like that. But fuck them. They had enough already.

Walker closed his eyes and tried to calm down, expect that his anger had now graduated to rage. The sounds emanating from the campus unable to breakthrough to his senses. Students chatting as they walked by. The sound of cheering from the nearby football field. Birds chirping somewhere overhead. None of it getting through.

He hated Karson already, but seeing what he had now achieved was, … . He opened his eyes. A ball of white fuzz slowly came into focus and registered in his mind. He had crumpled the paper inside his fist. He stared at it for a few more seconds and then forced himself to relax and uncurl his hands. He needed the document, the evidence. And, he needed to make a phone call to a generous, yet mysterious benefactor.

Personal vengeance would have to come later. And come it would.

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Across the Atlantic, a man undressed in a small room and climbed on top of a cushioned table, face down, only covering his backside with a small red silk scarf that had been carefully folded and left on the table. His body was lean and fit. His skin just lightly dark. His hair black and pulled over from front to back, revealing a low, thick hairline. The muscles in his back appearing a little tense and in need of some TLC.

He was in one of the many such rooms that made up the Raven Room. A place for men who had discerning tastes and the money to pay for it. It was also discreet, guaranteed by the, ‘admission only by referral’ system, and each member was only allowed to give one referral. They were not given out easily or haphazardly. The man lying on the table had been a member for 5 years and had still not given his to anyone. Nor would he. Ever.

The room had no windows, but instead only 2 paintings. One on the far back wall, and the other on the left side wall. Coming into the room, the right side wall was occupied by a fully stocked cabinet of liqueurs and whiskeys. A built-in closet allowed clients to neatly store their clothes and a plush, dark purple armchair next to the cabinet allowed for any number of relaxation activities.

Daniel didn’t know why he bothered with the silk scarf, except that Cloe seemed to like it to be a part of their program. Cloe. The mere thought of her brought a smile to Daniel’s face. To call be beautiful was a tragedy. She was exquisite. She was magical, at least her fingers and lips were. Soon she would open the door and a whole new world of pleasure would be brought down on him. A different kind of pleasure from his usual.

Daniel. He loved using a biblical name when traveling in Christian countries, when his sole purpose was to destroy them. His true name was virtually unpronounceable to the West, to the infidels, to the ‘civilized’ as they liked to think of themselves. They were all at war and the infidels still hadn’t learned what it was all about. They just continued with their usual rhetoric about freedom and values. Sure. Freedom and values when it suits your own purpose. This war was also about freedom and values, but one’s that had been taken away from Daniel’s people and many more like him. Nations with long histories also have long memories.

Although well trained in masking his emotions, thoughts like these made it difficult, but not impossible. Not when your duty has meaning beyond this world. But that was a lifelong fight and one that would still be there in 2 hours. Right now, Daniel had a different reason to mask his emotions, namely excitement.

It had become a game of sorts between himself and Cloe. He would try and control showing his excitement in seeing her and she would try and get a rise out of him before she entered the room. Keeping him waiting was one of her tactics. She knew of her powerful affect on him and it was one she used well. He never minded though. As soon as she was in the room, a power shift occurred, from her to him.