    SAM PED in, "THE JOB" by Pedro Vila
    (with apologies to Mr. Chandler)

                 Part one

    Sargent Pike slammed the table hard with his hand. "Alright Ped. Let's go over this again. Why were you hanging around the school yard all day?"
   "I was looking for a lost dog." I said. I didn't look him in the eye. Pike was ready to strangle me and I was just making it easier for him. He would have vaulted the table to do it if someone shot off a starter pistol. I could feel steam from his direction and he lumbered towards me expecting the table to part like Moses's sea stunt.
   His partner, detective Rayson got in his way. "Hold it, Pike. That won't help us here. Let me talk to him again." Rayson turned back to me and Pike finally sulked over to the far chair with his red eyes glowing in the dark. It reminded me of a kids night light with the kid hiding under the bed from it.
   "Look, Ped, we just wanna know what your working on is all. I know you ain't gonna harm anyone. We can help each other, see? You tell us what you know and we tell you what we know. Got it? So come on, What's goin on?"
   I looked Rayson in the eye. Him I wasn't worried about. He knew I helped the department
enough times when it mattered and had some higher ups ready to knock anyones head who knocked mine first. It helped that I knew some things about some PD officials too. "Yeah, sure." I said to Rayson. "So I forget. Which one are you, the bad cop or the good cop?"
   Raysons face hardened and he looked ready to belt me one himself.
   Pike got up and gave me a sinister smile as Rayson tagged him into the ring. He didn't get the chance. An official barged in and announced the interrogation over and I was dragged to an upper office where Captain Nickels waited to see me.
   He had the door shut and it was just me and him. He got out a bottle and poured me a glass. Everything all cozy and friendly. My inside siren was sounding 'all alarm'. He motioned me to a chair with a big black hand and I sat.
   "Hey, sorry about Ray and Pike." he started. "If I knew you were here earlier I would have stopped it." I said nothing and he continued all warm and fuzzy. "Hell, they're just doing what they think is right. They don't understand you like I do." Oh, yeah. I understood him. A fourteen year old hooker tried to get him for a sexual harassment charge. I did a little work and cleared him fully. She was trying to make a quick buck and I pointed her to a quicker way.
   Nickles family thanked me and the dept. did a half nod my direction. That's why I still can work despite my reputation. It was unspoken agreement that I didn't break any laws even if a majority of the world found my sexual preference distasteful. I had saved one of their own and he was well respected by the force.
   Problem was, I found out too late that he had been fucking the hooker, and not just her. But I was maneuvered between a rock and a hard place. That's when I realized That Nickles was nobody to trust if you can avoid it. He was all sweet and 'who me?' as he motioned for me to drink with him. Part of me wanted to just hand him the KY and bend over right there.
   I drank. No need to make it worse. Nobody said anything for a minute so I said, "Let's cut the chit chat and tell me what you want."
   Nickles smiled. I would have felt better if he had gotten mad. This was gonna be bad.
   "Okay, Ped. You know Councelman Woodrow?" I started to see the alarm bells now. "He has a visiting niece and she's overstayed her welcome. He needs a nice place to put her where no one can hear and still get her later." My jaw dropped. I closed it. "I told him about your help with the department and your certain abilities and he seems to think your the man for the job."
   I stood up. "I don't do disappearing acts, not including the one I'm gonna do now."
   I had the doorknob in my grip when he dropped the bomb. "Officer Pike will escort you to your cell, then. Trial may take a couple of months." I turned and glared. "We're short on space and I think everybody knows you like to fuck children."
   Self preservation kept me from leaping his desk like Pike almost did earlier. I said through clenched teeth, "I don't break any laws and I don't fuck children." He already had a folder of pictures in his hand and they spilled onto the desk. I caught a glimpse of one and realized I was being blackmailed. There it was in black and white. Me and my special friend, Trixy.
   Trixy was eleven years old going on twenty. She had a hard life and a strong spirit. I had saved her a few times and she was now self sufficient and a good friend. And I never fucked her. But she did help me out in tough times and this one picture showed us in a deep embrace swapping spit. My fingernails dug into my palms.
   "Hey, don't get me wrong. I know you done right by her and she's a good kid." he was all friendly still. I heard it more like Boris Carloff anyway. "You know, she should be with social services and not on the street."
   "Fuck you!" My temper got the best of me. "Those were the jerks that were whoring her in the first place!"
   Nickles dropped the pleasant act. "Then you'd better play ball." Smiles again. "I could put in a word here and there and she gets left alone."
   I slumped. Nickles had me. Nothing makes me more angry then somebody hurting kids. I couldn't let them do to Trixy what she'd already had to go through again, but I didn't like the idea of sitting on a kid for some rich politico to keep clean all the while giving me a dirty look like I was scum.
   Most people think kids and sex are wrong. Most of the time they're right. But nobody in this world works the same and sometimes you find younger people emotionally and physically ready for it. And if it ain't with a good person, then it's gonna be with a bad one. And besides, allot of adults want just that, though they can't ever say so. Hell, I don't need to preach to you. You'll have made up your mind long before this and nobody's gonna change it no how.
   "Alright. We'll play it your way." I told Nickles. "But if I find she's getting hurt, then I don't care who goes down, she gets lost where you guys can't touch her. Same goes for Trixy." I held his eyes so he could see I meant it. He did. Someday I might have to die to save a kid from harm. I didn't have a problem with that.
   "I think we're on the same page here. I don't want to see kids hurt either." he said. I almost believed him. "I know you won't do anything to her either, understood?" I understood. Don't touch, even if she want's it. "I'll call you tomorrow with some details."
   I stood to leave thinking I could this time. "Oh, and Ped?" I stopped but didn't turn around. "Don't go near your girlfriend till this is through." I said nothing and opened the door. Pike was right there and he had my shoulder in an instant.
   "We ain't through, tough guy!" he snarled. Nickles was up and holding his wrist in a flash. "Hey!" he said but didn't fight him. I walked away. "But he.... He's getting away!"
   I heard nickles say, "You don't touch...." then I was down the stairs and out as quick as I could walk without raising suspicion.
   Trixy's place was covered by Captain Nickles gorillas and I had to duck into an adult bookstore to keep from being eye balled by them. I looked at Magazines and videotapes. I saw the words 'teen' allot, but nobody even looked under twenty one in the photographs.
   The shop had a backdoor to a parking lot and I took it. I wondered what else they might have had under the counter but then I remembered the photo of me and Trixy and didn't like thinking of pictures anymore.
   I doubled back as usual to check for tails and felt clean of them. If there was one, he was very good. I didn't want to go to the office just yet and needed someplace to just think for the day. There had to be a way to close this one without anyone getting hurt and that included me too.
   I found a small movie house running a string of Shirley Temple movies all day and ducked in there. Some families looked at the grown man in a trench coat that was me and gave me the 'stay clear of us' look but relaxed when the theater manager recognized me and treated me like royalty. I didn't make out where I knew him from but judging by his pleasant attitude, I must have done something good for him.
   That's me. I got friends I didn't even know of.
   Shirley made me remember what was right with the world again.


   I got a call the next day that said simply, "Meet us at park." and hung up. That was probably the drop. Maybe it wasn't gonna be so bad. She must not be trouble if they chose a public place to pawn her off in. It was a nice day and I thought I'd better lose the trench coat. I put on a DisneyWorld jacket and baseball cap on instead.
   Mr. Nondescript.
   The park was by the river and a chilly breeze came off of it. Nobody was swimming but kids were playing all the same. I could smell barbecue.
   I didn't know who I was looking for but heard someone come up behind me before I made a u turn around a tree and came up walking beside him. He looked startled but recovered quickly. He said nothing but guided me to a car on the street. I got padded for a gun and grabbed his hand when he found it. He glared. I said, "You think I'm gonna shoot somebody? I keep the gun." He held it still and I smiled. "Don't fool yourself. I won't need it for you."
   The grunt up the stakes and I thought I'd have to ring his bell when a stern voice came from the back seat. "Jacob!" Jacob the grunt grunted. "I think we can trust Mr. Ped, don't you." Jacob still glared but let my gun go. "Get in, Mr. Ped." the back seat said. I got in.
   The voice had a face like Herman Munster. He had the wrong kind of car.
   "I'm Sykes, Councleman Woodrow's personal assistant. You are Mr. Ped Private Detective. You have quite a police record Mr. Ped. A man of your certain tastes should keep a lower profile."
   "Your right. I'm the wrong guy for this job." I reached for the door handle. "Later, mack." Mr. Sykes held my arm gently but firmly. I sighed. "Okay. How you wanna play this out?"
   "Right to business, eh Ped?" He reached for a pad and pencil and scribbled something on it, then put it away. "That's fine with me. Our package is just up the street at the boat launch. We get her now and then you make her disappear for a few days. Then we print a message in the want ads and you bring her back."
   "You could have had anybody do that. Why me?"
   "Councleman Woodrow doesn't know what's going to happen. She just needs to be hidden from him and we'll tell him she's on a visit to a friend. She knows she's supposed to be out of his hair for this... this thing that's going on, but he wants her by his side and she's going to go along with it." Herman explains. I keep waiting for him to throw his hands up and start guffawing.
   "What's to keep this from becoming a kidnapping case?" I ask.
   Sykes the Munster nods. "She's a smart girl. She'll know what's going on. Councleman Woodrow will be too busy to ask too many questions. By the time he starts wondering, She'll be back. Let's go." He knocks on the window and the car starts and pulls forward. I didn't like it. It just didn't add up and I smelled fish.
   We got to the docks and Jacob ran out to the ramp. He looked around and ran back. His voice was high pitched. "She's not there boss!" and stood.
   "Go find her!" Sykes roared, and Jacob ran with his tail between his legs. I got out too. "Where are you going? You stay until we give you the girl."
   "Oh, yeah. You got this all figured out." Jacob ran back out onto the boat ramp and I looked for places to run on land. Too many places to go. Yeah, she was a smart girl alright. "Face it, buddy, you lost her and you ain't gonna find her now."
   "Then I suggest you find her, Ped." He said.
   I leaned back in through the window. "You got some nerve, you know? You have guys threaten me just for a baby sitting job and you don't even know where the baby is sitting. You want me to find her, it's gonna cost you."
   "Blackmail, Ped? I thought that would be beneath you." Munster tried to look scornful. "I was under the impression that you were helping us for free."
   "I don't work for free. I didn't loose her. Want someone cheap working for you? Try Jacob. I'll bet he finds her right away." Jacob was still out at the end of the pier looking out at the boat less river. Like he thought she would running away over the water or something.
   Sykes exhaled, "I see your point Mr. Ped. You find her and I'll pay your normal wages." That's better. I got back in. I wouldn't find her by running down a street. I played twenty questions with Sykes about things that seemed unrelated to anything, got him to cop a picture and then I left for my own car.
   The girls name was Beatrice. A sweet looking girl with freckles and brown hair. She didn't have that look in her eyes though. That knowing look of experience. That look of having had any kind of sex. Up till then, I had thought that she was a child lover for the councilman and was a risk to his standing if it became public knowledge. The girl in the picture was innocent of any of that. Maybe she had a good facade. Maybe it was an old picture. Maybe I was wrong.
   Still, something seemed wrong about all of this.
   With everything I found out from Sykes, and the picture, this girl didn't know her way around the seedier side of town. My fingers tapped the picture as I tried to think of what I would do if I were her. Sometimes my gut leads me to the right places. This wasn't one of those times. I was still worried about Trixy. Come on, Ped! Snap out of it!
   I grunted and started the car. I didn't know where to go so I just drove to the seedier part of town which wasn't that far from the park. Seedy is always close to rivers. That's where the fishy stuff happens.
   I chose seedy because if that's where she went, that would be the place where trouble would happen sooner. I drove slow and checked every alley. There was no sign of Sykes gorilla anywhere. You'd think every employee of his would be out searching. There wasn't anybody looking out of place here. Maybe they were trying a different part of town. It still didn't seem right to me though and I couldn't shake the feeling that I was being set up somehow.
   There! A group of men huddled in an alley like a pack of dogs at a kill. I was out and over in a flash and a thug looked at me like I was a fly to be swatted. The gun changed his mind and he booked for a doorway. A feeling of a bust swept over the group and just about everyone fled. That left two guys and they were on the girl. One held her arms while the other was ramming his bloody cock deeply into her limp body. The holder saw me and my anger, and probably the gun too, and his eyes went wide and he dropped her arms and ran.
   That left the last man. The ugly bastard that was raping that poor child. He said "Hey!" and didn't see me until it was too late. I dropped him with the butt of my gun and he was out cold. 
   So was Beatrice.
   She was a mess. Her clothes were in shreds and she had bruises and cuts on her face and various parts of her body. I couldn't wake her and didn't want to be caught with her in the alley. I carried her to the car and laid her on the back seat. I was out of there like I was the pole position of a race.
   I thought about a hospital but remembered about keeping everything hush. More then that, I had a nagging doubt about my unfolding roll in this. What was this girl thinking? Surly she was smart enough to not go someplace so sinister looking. Could she have been running away from something so terrible that anything would be an improvement?
   I had to get her help first. Her breathing was regular, I had checked that before driving off. Nothing broken, pulse good. Mostly she was in shock. I wasn't about to go anywhere where someone could get a tag on me. Right then I was off the radar but that couldn't last long. There was someplace close that might be just the ticket. Chan's Herbal Remedies. It was a few blocks to the right and Chan owed me a favor. Actually, I had already called that favor but I had a feeling he would help in a situation like this one.
   I parked behind in an alley much like the one we had just come from and kicked the door a few times with Beatrice in my arms. I had started kicking again when an older Asian lady opened the door with a baseball bat in her hand. When she saw what I was holding, she dropped the bat and backed away. I shoved my way in and passed her for Chan's back room.
   I heard yapping in the hall though I had no idea what was being said. I didn't have enough laundry to learn Chinese. Chan barged in as I laid Beatrice on a cot. He was holding the bat and stopped when he saw us.
   "You!" he yelled. "What you doing here? You no be here!" Chan stopped yelling when he saw the girl. He rushed over and put his hand on her neck and started a quick examination. "What happen?" he asked.
   "A group was raping her. I broke it up." I told him.
   "She should be in a hospital." All business now, and his English was getting better.
   "That was my first thought. I think she's in trouble and would be safer laying low for a spell." He stood up. "Is she gonna be okay? There was allot of blood back there."
   "She'll be alright. Blood is from her hymen." he shook his head and tsked. "Bad thing for a child to go through."
   It was my turn to stand up. "She was a virgin? You sure?"
   He gently probed her crotch and then wiped his hand. "Oh, yes. No doubt. She in shock now, but she be okay."
   "Can I ask her a few questions?" I had some serious questions too.
   "Oh, no. She should sleep. Best thing for her. I give her something to help. What is her name?"
   "Beatrice."
   "No last name?"
   "Just Beatrice." I lied. I didn't want Chan calling anybody, or backing out if he knew the trouble she could bring him.
   "She should sleep all day and night. This is a terrible thing for her to go through." He turned to the Asian lady and barked out a string of Chinese and she rushed out. "You have things to do, then do. She won't wake soon. Come back in three hours and we see better."
   I didn't want to leave but I knew a brush off when I saw it. Chan was very secretive about his healing methods. It's what kept him in business. Besides, when I returned it would be better not to use my own car. I said thanks and went out the back door to the car. I drove to nowhere and when I got there I parked.
   Okay, so she wasn't the counclemans lover. Was she his niece for real? Then why go to all the trouble to rope me into this? The people who know me know I can be trusted, but more people know about my involvement with young girls. It smelled more and more like a set up as I thought about it. My best bet was to not tell anyone that I had the girl.
   It's nice to know when my first instincts prove right.


          THE JOB pt2

   I was driving some look alike car and blending in smoothly. Baseball cap and fake glasses. These import cars came in one flavor and I could have been right behind Sykes and he would of never noticed. For a guy who lost his bosses niece, he sure seemed cool and I got the impression he didn't care if she were found at all.
   The mid day traffic was moderate and Sykes made a stop that seemed wrong for some reason. It was the Sister Mary's Orphanage. Could be just business for the councleman, except Sykes parked behind and out of sight. He looked around to see who was watching as well. 
   That was stupid of him. I wouldn't have ever thought anything of it had his body language not tipped me off. Sykes stayed for over an hour and I decided to stay when he left. I selected a card from my wallet and put it in another one with a fake badge. I wasn't going to impersonate a cop, but a public joe-blow inspector seemed to fit the ticket. If it had to do with kids and donations, an establishment like this one would bend over backwards to prove their ethics.
   The door said 'come in' and I thanked it. The front office had a directory on the wall and I had time to study it before a secretary asked if I needed anything. I put on my working class face and said, "I'm Parsons here for the inspection?" I got a blank look. The radiator looked like it still worked. Steam. Twentieth century and this place had a steam radiator. "For the boiler?" , I said. My I.D. said 'Public Works'. I could pick anything. Maybe someday I'll be a bikini inspector for kicks.
   I got a stare that said more the it should. "I'm sorry Mr. Parsons. That has to be cleared with my supervisor. Your not on my list.
   I made with the irritation and produced my badge. I flashed it for just a second and pulled it back saying, "I should be showing this to Ms. Krendle. Not you." The secretary didn't make a move. "Hey. I don't wanna have to be here either. Maybe somebody didn't get the message, but since I'm here I'd like to do this and not have to come back. Okay?" If she were a deer, a car would have hit her by now. I went for a door. "Heck, just tell me which office, okay?"
   The statue behind the desk became the statue in front of the door and she wasn't playing. "I'm sorry, but you can't go in there. Take a seat and I'll call someone." She said. She made her way back to the phone only after I sat. 
   Sure. I get it. It's a bad world and they're just protecting the children. This place just hires good security secretaries. Ms. Krendle showed up with two very military looking guards. These guys didn't look cheap. Maybe they took a pay cut for the children.
   Ms. Krendle looked like a lesbian schoolmarm. Her voice was crisp and full of authority. "Mr. Parsons, I've called city hall and they have no record of you. State who you are and your business here.
   "What? Are you kidding? Call my boss and let him straiten this out. I'm too tired to go this again." I handed her a card. It had a phone number and an address for a non city hall suite. I had it made with the card. The phone number was for an answering machine I kept at a time share that wasn't in use this year. The owner didn't know I used it. It said, "Hi, this is bla bla bla. I'm away from the bla bla bla." It's worked enough time to keep it.
   Ms. Krendle didn't say a word and I was left with the grunts as she went to the secretaries phone and called it in. She didn't take her eyes off me and something in her stare told me this was a sharp cookie. I tried to make small talk with the grunts but they had their eardrums blown out from some explosions. That's what I was telling myself anyway.
   Krendle came back and seemed no better. "I don't think your here to inspect the boiler since it's coming out next month. Maybe the police can figure out why your here."
   I was Mr. no-problem. "Go ahead. Maybe you can get me transferred from Recycling. I hate this job, you know." I was also Mr. think-fast-on-his-feet. "I could be going to nice restaurants and trying good food instead of rooting around basements for something some moron thinks is still good. You know, I have a bachelors in chemical engineering but do I test lakes or soil? Noooo! I got to look for good pipe and stuff! If they had any sense up there they'd put me where I'm needed instead of...." Ms. Krendle cut me off.
   "Enough! Go back and get the nessesary clearance. I don't want to have to bother with you again." With that, she turned on her heel and disappeared through the door. The guards stayed until I was outside and waited until I drove off. I was glad to be done with it. I knew I wasn't going in by the secretary's manner and I was just happy to be gone without the police spotting me.
   I was no closer and still had no idea what was going on but I had a gut feeling that it was tied in with Sister Mary's Orphnage somehow. Maybe that was where the girl came from. I was going to have to find a way in there somehow. And I'd better think of a slicker approach.

   Chan's was closed so I went in anyway. The girl was still out and Chan was watching her intently. He pointed to a chair without looking up and I sat. After a while he said, "This girl very peculiar."
   "How so?" I asked.
   "She has been hypnotized. Her chi is all wrong."
   I sat forward. "Someone doesn't want her to say something?"
   Chan looked at me then. "No. Not that."
   "Then what?"
   He looked back at her sleeping body. "Look at her legs. They are spread apart. Her hands are palm upward. When she roll on her belly, she keep her bottom up and legs still spread." Come to think of it, she didn't look like she had just been through a brutal gang rape except from her face. It was odd. "Someone has spent lot of time molding her. I don't think she knew."
   "You mean she could be an underground assassin in training?" And they were lobbing her at me too.
   "I don't know. So we ask." Chan did something with her wrist and her eyes fluttered. "You must talk with us, please."
   The girl took a moment to remember and then her eyes went wide and she curled sitting up. "Where... where am I?" She asked.
   "It's okay. Your safe here. What do you remember?" I said gently.
   She thought for a bit. "It was hot in the car. I've never been out so far from home before." She smiled. "I wanted to see the city." She looked scared but none of the body language of someone who just suffered a major trauma.
   "Then what?" I prodded.
   "I must have fell asleep. Are you taking me back to the school now?"
   "You don't remember anybody... er, hurting you?"
   "No." The confused child then seemed to become aware of how her lower body felt and looked down. "Why? What happened?"
   I sat thinking for a moment. "Chan. You said she was hypnotized?" Chan was thinking hard. He got up and looked menacingly down at the girl.
   "I am going to fuck you." he said coldly to the girl.
   "What the hell are you doing?!" I was ready to deck him when the girl at once became scared and her arms and legs spread apart for him at the same time. I got mixed messages from the girl. Except for the fear in her face, she looked like she was inviting Chan to fuck her.
   Chan sat back down and said simply, "Very interesting."
   I wasn't sure what was happening. I got the girls attention with one word. "Beatrice. What are you doing?" As soon as I said it, she haltingly got up and shuffled to me with a confused and fearful look in her eyes. She held her chest out and her arms back behind her, palms facing me. Her knees walked apart and for a moment I was impressed with the beauty of her just blooming body. The scared look on her face destroyed it.
   Something about her body language screamed, 'fuck me!' at me, and had I not known better, I could have been fooled into doing just that. She got close and I heard her panting hard and saw her trembling as well. Chan did something from behind her and she fell asleep in his arms. He laid her back on the cot.
   Chan checked her neck and then led me out of the room. "She sleep the rest of night now. Do you understand what she doing?"
   "Yeah. I was set up. She comes on to me and I get caught." I faced Chan. "That was hypnotism?"
   "It is more than that. This kind of thing take many years to do." Chan faced me now. "It was more than just to set you up. This is for life. I think they sell her for prostitution." My blood was getting hot. This poor child was trained for a life that she didn't understand and would probably suffer much through it.
   I imagined her not knowing why she was being hurt as she made herself vulnerable, without any control over it, to further pain and suffering. That was a lousy way to treat as beautiful child such as her.
   My voice was hard. "There's more like her, right?"
   "I think so. Yes. Many more, I'm sure."
   I was thinking of the orphanage. I was thinking of where I could get a tank.

   No guards walked the outside of Sister Mary's Orphanage which meant that they would be inside. I picked a lock to the kitchen when it was dark and quiet inside. I checked for alarms around the door before opening it too much. Yep. Standard magnetic contact. I jumped it and checked for any more, then slipped inside.
   I had seen a rough blueprint from an old file that I found at the library but there could have been much remodeling since. There was. I crept until I found a breaker box that handled the whole building. The oldest classrooms had the most watts and newest wiring. There were allot of video jacks routed to the same place. It could just be a standard improvement for the first part of the wiring to fail but I had no other leads and something told me that hypnotism would require stable electricity.
   I ducked a few people walking the halls and played cat and mouse with a guard but I didn't think he was on to me. The older classrooms were lit and I ducked into a dark doorway just as a door opened beside me. A nurse pushed a cart with a sleeping girl under the sheet down the hall away from my direction. I caught the door and held it just a crack to peek in. I saw another young girl laying with a black helmet over her eyes and ears. A wire ran from it to a computer with other things I couldn't make out.
   I felt like I was in a bad detective TV movie. All I needed was for someone to sneak up on me and it would have been perfect. Then I felt a hand on my shoulder. I tensed and was ready block and swing. I never got the chance as my head exploded from behind.

   I woke laying on a bed with my arms stuck to my sides. They were tied down but I couldn't see how. My vision was still blurry and I had something shoved into my mouth before I knew what hit me. Then water and I ended up swallowing a pill of some kind.
   "I see your awake Mr. Ped." I was still blurry but a picture of Herman Munster came to mind.
   "Sykes!" I spat out.
   "I must compliment you. I had no idea you were this good. We lost your trail in no time and you came right to the heart of our little operation. Kudos." My sight was clearing up. I saw someone else sitting next to him. I realized it was a little girl of nine years old in a night gown. She was in some sort of trance. Sykes nodded approvingly at where I was looking. "Yes. She is cute isn't she. Very sweet and very innocent. She has no idea what your thinking of doing right now."
   I glared at Sykes, "You don't either you sick fuck!"
   "Ah. You must have figured it out then. But how?" He snapped. "Oh, yes. You found the girl. Did you enjoy your self? We were hoping to be there when you did the deed, you know."
   "You should know me better then that." I was thinking of ways to kill Sykes but they all needed the use of my arms. Maybe if I coaxed him over I could do a leg lock. "There's no way you can get away with this. This country really clamps down on child prostitution. Just one bust and they'll be all over you."
   "Your assuming they would still be in the country at all. Mr. Ped, you don't know what some people would pay for American children. Most of the world hates us. What better way the get back at us then the fuck our children?" Sykes put his arm around the small red headed girl. "They'll pay anything. You could be a part of this too. Think about it. We could make you rich and you could have all of your fantasies come true everyday." I glared and part of me actually thought about it. The other part of me wanted to kick my ass.
   "Yeah, right. You could just make me disappear too. Why offer me anything? Oh, yeah! A scapegoat."
   "Please. I would be so much easier if you just went along with this." My eyes were fully focused now and then I saw the video camera to my other side. I also started to feel my loins stirring. A lump started to show between my legs. "I see the Viagra is starting to kick in. Sally, be a good girl and fuck Mr. Ped for me please."
   Sally got up, trance like, and shuffled to me much the same was as Beatrice. With her chest thrusted out and her arms back and out of the way. There was a sweetness about it that made me think of good child actors and it hit me. These children were not just trained to be helpless but also to radiate sexual charm on the deepest level.
   Sykes watched my reactions and commented. "Yes, that's right. Perfect figure and poise. Everything every study made has said about what men want in little girls. A pedophiles dream come true." Sykes walked to the camera as he spoke on. "They have no idea what the world wants from them. When they're threatened, they do everything to encourage further harm to themselves. They don't even understand what's happening to them. This is all they've ever known. And afterwards, a blank. They can't even remember the original threat. The perfect little victims. Over and over again."
   The camera started to tape. Sally crawled up onto the bed and I could see fear and confusion in her soft eyes. She had no idea what was happening all right.
   "Imagine if you will," Sykes went on. "Hundreds of innocent little girls never having seen violence or sex holding themselves up to repeated tortures and not even able to move or even put up their hands to block it. Not ever understanding why." Sykes had a cruel streak a hundred miles wide. Sally was straddling me and I tried like hell to lose the erection. The problem was that she really was making me excited too and Sykes had releaved my responsibilities in this situation. Who could fault me if I just let her fuck me?
   I could!
   I thought of the worst things a guy could think about during sex and it was my anger that finally won out. My hard on started to slip away. Sykes peeked out from behind the camera. "How can you turn this down? Isn't she the most wonderful thing you've ever seen?"
   "Fuck you!" I said gritting my teeth. Sally misunderstood and got off the bed to shuffle to Sykes. Sykes lost his temper and slapped her face.
   "Stupid little bitch! Go back and fuck him!" Sally started to cry instead and she seemed to just understand where she was. That was when the door burst open and a million cops filled the room. I thought for sure they were going to kill me.
   Sykes was tackled and pinned. Captain Nickles then entered the room. Sykes glared up and yelled, "What are you doing you stupid cop?! Your finished!! You hear me? Finished!!!"
   Captain Nickles grabbed the video tape and said to the other officers, "Get that trash out of here." Sykes was dragged away screaming. Herman Munster having a psychotic episode. Nickles undid my restraints. "You did a lot of children good here, you know?"
   I looked at everything going on. Sally was escorted out by a female officer who gave her a coat to wear. Photographs were being taken. Nobody seemed surprised by what was going on. "You used me. Threw me in without knowing anything and let me shake it up for you. Then you move in and claim credit." I smiled. "You were helpless without my help."
   Nickles shook his head but ended up smiling too, "You are some piece of work, you know that Ped? So tell me, weren't you even the least interested in fucking that poor little girl?"
   "It's not what I want. It's what they want that counts. So what happens to them? Another orphanage?"
   "No. Foster homes. The best we can find. After we reprogram them first, of course." Nickles turned to deal with an officer and I just sat and shrugged off the angry stares. Some things never change. Nickles turned back and asked, "You getting off on all of this?" He looked down. I looked down. My hard on was back and throbbing.
   "They slipped me something, okay?"
   Nickles smiled. "We know. Why don't you go sleep it off and we'll talk at the station tomorrow, okay?" I nodded thanks and walked off. Nickles yelled back one more thing. "Don't worry about Trixy either. We've pulled all the officers watching her too." I stared. Nickles was saying that nothing would happen to me if I wanted to check on her.
   I looked down at my hard on and thought about Trixy having a long hard night.
   Well.
   If she said okay.... 

________________________
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