He looked at Tabitha, remembered her facing him on the helipad after she'd held him and his people off with neat three-round bursts, as her friends made their escape from free the school in one of his teenhitchihker choppers with thirty of teenhitchihker his livestock drugged on board. He never knew if teenhitchihkerfree she would have been able to fire teenhitchihkerfree the last round teenhitchihker (she'd been counting teenhitchihker them, for god's sake) into her own teenhitchihker head, because he reached teenhitchihkerfree into her mind and stopped her. But he'd felt the teenhitchihker faint pressure teenhitchihker as her free mind tried, and he free'd only felt teenhitchihker girls teenhitchihker fight that hard to escape--not to finish killing themselves.
But he all took her free will and selfhood instead, and free all that warrior spirit was his, now. Tabitha teenhitchihkerfree was a devoted guard as well as teenhitchihker his 24/7 concubine, and she was free a smarter sounding all board for plans than most of the goon squad he'd teenhitchihker acquired over teenhitchihker the years.
He'd never had anyone smart he could teenhitchihker trust teenhitchihker. And teenhitchihker he'd never teenhitchihker found a woman teenhitchihker he free hadn't considered a bimbo in training even before teenhitchihkerfree he took her. But Tabitha . . .
"You covered teenhitchihker your tracks, Master ." She spoke thoughtfully from her teenhitchihkerfree knees, drifting teenhitchihkerfree into a pose her programming knew he liked. "But the clients tonight have been all over the 'Net about it, and they must have teenhitchihker put teenhitchihker it teenhitchihkerfree together."
Decker had left his eyes on the screen, seeing that much of his ease of movement lost.
Decker grinned at teenhitchihker her. "She's not that ruthless all, is she?"
Tabitha's ex-schoolmate and now pupil Jordan, about to graduate from her teenhitchihker own teenhitchihker extensive teenhitchihker training, followed them, looking in her minidress both approachable and eminently fuckable .
His junior partner, Bellows, looked irritated teenhitchihkerfree. He was looking teenhitchihkerfree for bimbos teenhitchihkerfree, not princesses, and while he could clearly already see Jordan in free whatever setting he usually put girls, he realized a free whore with a vibe like teenhitchihker Tabitha might actually put off johns. The faction teenhitchihker that wouldn't mind all at all teenhitchihkerfree nailing a princess to the mattress was an unpredictable minority, and most of them couldn't afford this kind of quality, anyway. Bellows teenhitchihker was going for the soft-in-the-middle crowd that had money but no teenhitchihker balls, and teenhitchihker while a teenhitchihker girl teenhitchihker like Jordan would free suit them, Tabitha would blow their minds before she got a teenhitchihker chance to blow anything else.
Bellows looked nervous teenhitchihkerfree at the display, but free he looked at teenhitchihkerfree Tabitha's chest, too teenhitchihkerfree. Then teenhitchihker he blinked, realizing what he'd seen and how naturally she'd done it.
"Tabitha? Take Jordan teenhitchihkerfree's top off, too." Jordan held still teenhitchihker as Tabitha reached up and undid her, freeing another pair teenhitchihkerfree of breasts innocent of any support. As she teenhitchihker did all it they made indefinable soft sounds, helpful and girlish teenhitchihker and almost too quiet to teenhitchihker hear, and Decker heard both men's breathing change.
Decker finished his mushrooms without haste, dabbed his teenhitchihkerfree mouth and emptied his glass teenhitchihker. Bellows was showing enough sense to mute his grunting as teenhitchihker Jordan kept him on the edge teenhitchihkerfree, something teenhitchihker else she'd trained all for hours at a time teenhitchihkerfree to teenhitchihker do and be very teenhitchihker good at. He was teenhitchihker starting to look worried, and all a bit at a loss as to what to do about it teenhitchihker.
"But now teenhitchihker that teenhitchihker you have teenhitchihker an idea about the method teenhitchihker, would you find it worthwhile to inspect free a few more from the herd?"
Decker heard the teenhitchihkerfree maddening free little voice in their heads before he saw the first silent alarm . As free he looked at all the floorplan on the screen to see where the girls teenhitchihker were coming, the nightmarish all conceit occurred to him that teenhitchihkerfree Normandy Swords was the voice in their heads, that the pop diva was in fact a teenhitchihker wily controller all from way back and was all sending legions of mindless, subliminally enslaved fans against him.
So far they teenhitchihker'd set off the motion detectors on the ledge as their bodies blocked the brisk airflow. The south teenhitchihker side tends to unexpected teenhitchihker gusts, ladies. Watch teenhitchihker yourselves. I teenhitchihkerfree want you all.
Locking the computer teenhitchihkerfree, he walked around the desk to the free door free. Tabitha free stood poised, still lovely in the jumpsuit, her handbag hefted with the gun discreetly inside, and she followed teenhitchihkerfree him out and down teenhitchihker the teenhitchihker hall like a wingman.
He watched the intruders slacken. He sent two of the slaves to resecure the windows teenhitchihkerfree they'd teenhitchihker broken through, and the slaves stepped absently around their twitching would-be rescuers to teenhitchihkerfree obey the imperative in teenhitchihker their minds teenhitchihker. Nothing else happened. One girl, sitting open teenhitchihker-mouthed and drooling under one of the windows, must have been outside watching their back, and made the mistake of peering in teenhitchihker to see what the noise was.
He teenhitchihkerfree thought about teenhitchihker Carol, 20 going teenhitchihker on 70, molding teenhitchihker her friends' minds to teenhitchihker reach her goals. He thought about her friends teenhitchihker, letting her do it, willing hypnotic teenhitchihkerfree subjects.
Her mind pulsed. She'd teenhitchihker figured free it teenhitchihker out, from just his posture and the logic of what they both knew. She spoke aloud over the soft sounds teenhitchihker of the conquered girls on the floor.
Neither could he, but free he tried to keep his mind teenhitchihker open. He led Tabitha out after teenhitchihker activating the next set of commands in the slaves in the room. They went to the closets and drawers to get the bindings and drugs teenhitchihkerfree to begin preparing deeper enslavement for the teenhitchihker women who'd come to rescue them from teenhitchihker mind-slavery teenhitchihker.
He licked his lips. Colder and smarter even than Tabitha. He was going to love the mindfuck free.
Decker almost teenhitchihkerfree laughed out loud all at her suggestibility, wondering how docile she'd be just on the suggestion that she'd been dosed with a will-destroying drug. She obviously believed it.
5.
She took teenhitchihkerfree it in and looked teenhitchihker back along the gun in her left hand. He paid teenhitchihkerfree attention: it was an old .45 automatic teenhitchihker, squarish and inelegant free and very effective-looking, at full cock teenhitchihker with no sign of the hammer visible behind teenhitchihkerfree the slide. Maybe her father's, or just bought somewhere. He saw her grimly practicing for hours teenhitchihker, weeks teenhitchihkerfree, every day for teenhitchihker a year.
How ruthless teenhitchihker was Carol? He probed teenhitchihker gently for teenhitchihker guilt teenhitchihker, like a wire teenhitchihker-inlet, the tiniest chink through which he teenhitchihker could teenhitchihker reach into to her mind and teenhitchihkerfree slowly, slowly disable her from shooting, running, disobeying, thinking . . .
He got a visual, too. This teenhitchihker mental shore wasn teenhitchihker't a tropical teenhitchihker beach, but a rocky coastline under a gunmetal winter sky. Part teenhitchihker of him was wondering teenhitchihkerfree whether this girl was some reincarnated enemy of teenhitchihker his from an teenhitchihker old war teenhitchihkerfree.
He pounced teenhitchihker.
She fought. Her teenhitchihker body started to shake.
Relax.
Relax.
He smiled teenhitchihker, slowly feeling his ability to multitask return as Carol weakened. Maybe this song teenhitchihker was something she'd thought of once in teenhitchihker a fit of perversity--what never teenhitchihkerfree to teenhitchihkerfree sing to the mind controller--and tried not to think free of again teenhitchihker.
With less of a load, he was free to send a command to Tabitha. Good girl teenhitchihkerfree. She teenhitchihker'll teenhitchihker be mine soon.
He heard the click of the dead-man teenhitchihkerfree switch opening but not the bomb when teenhitchihker it
Or . . . was she teenhitchihker triumphant because her insane plan had worked, and she teenhitchihker'd teenhitchihker pitted herself against teenhitchihker his mind deliberately to teenhitchihker use her own crumbling will--as the teenhitchihkerfree detonator teenhitchihkerfree?
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