Silently, he asked Charlie.
“Charlie, have you got any idea what the hell is going on? Charlie?”
No answer. For a moment, Terry began to really worry.
But before he could get fully into worry mode, Charlie answered finally. Although that really didn’t help.
A voice he nearly didn’t recognize said,
“I’m here, Terry.”
Pulling her head down to his chest, Terry made a face he didn’t want her to see as he replied mentally,
“Charlie, what the hell is wrong with you?”
Sounding almost like a child who got caught with his hand in the cookie jar, Charlie all but stuttered,
“I seem to have tuned in a bit too much.”
Confused, Terry asked,
“What do you mean too much?”
Again, in the strained voice, Charlie replied,
“Let me put it this way. Another one like that and I’ll need a cigarette.”
Terry fought down the urge to laugh until he realized Charlie seldom made jokes, so this was something new.
Tentatively, he asked,
“Are you okay?”
Noting Terry’s concern, Charlie felt a twinge of appreciation.
“I’ll be fine. I simply allowed too much of your neural energy to filter through. In my defense, there was plenty. I still have not made contact with her occupant. He seems to be buried deep within her nervous system. I didn’t realize it, but when I boosted your sensitivity, apparently, he was not increasing hers. Somehow, I overrode him and boosted you both. Given the intensity of your experience and her response to it, it would seem he keeps her somewhat subdued as far as her end. It would seem, her Chrliti doesn’t usually give her the extra sensitivity such as I give you. He does, however, seem to boost her endurance, as would be expected in her line of work.”
Terry thought for a moment then said,
“You mean she responded to what you did to me. How the hell did that happen?”
Slowly coming back to himself, Charlie said,
“I believe that was my fault. Her bio-fields are strong enough for her to be affected by my manipulations of yours once your two fields merged. I think he was taken by surprise by the intensity as well. That could explain his depth in her neural systems. He would have had to go so deep to try to neutralize my influence.”
Despite his years with Charlie, Terry deferred to his occupant with regard to others of his kind. And given Charlie’s expertise with them, he had yet to be disappointed with the results.
His curiosity was peaked now though. Why would the Chrliti not want her to enjoy what she did, especially if he got to enjoy it as well? And if he weren’t interested, why would he increase her ability to perform? It struck him almost as a punishment. Being able to work more but enjoy it less. He was about to pose another question when Charlie threw another wrench into the works.
“One more thing. Owed to the strength of her fields and her reaction to you, her bio-fields have somehow become sympathetic to yours. Given that, you have no need to have sex again for me to contact her Chrliti. If you simply maintain body contact, such as holding or cuddling with her, I can still communicate with her occupant.”
Terry was not pleased.
“But you could get a better view if we were having sex though, right?”
Charlie gave a mental frown,
“Yes, but I advise against it.”
“Why?”
“Because if you put me through another one like that, I am not going to be worth a fuck!”
Terry was so shocked, he had to catch himself from shouting out loud. As it was, Traci could feel him tense as he asked,
“Charlie, when did you start talking like that?”
Charlie seemed to contemplate the question for a moment before answering quietly,
“I don’t know.”
Then, after a few seconds more, Terry could sense his emanations of glee as he added in a voice he had apparently stolen from a late, late show,
“But I like it.”
Terry’s mind instantly filled with an image of a cartoon character from his childhood with a handlebar mustache wringing his hand and laughing maniacally. Whatever was happening, this was a new twist. And Terry was not sure how he was going to deal with it and this
new
Charlie.
Returning to the moment and the woman he was still holding in his arms, he was amazed to find her wiping her eyes. Bad enough Charlie was beginning to lose it, the universe wasn’t ready for that and a hooker with an epiphany. Terry was searching for an answer of some kind when she spoke suddenly.
Without looking at him, she said, “I just want you to know something. This is not a con and I don’t do this kind of shit all the time. I just…” she fumbled for words. Apparently, Charlie wasn’t the only one to hit overload.
“I just haven’t really…enjoyed anything that much in a while! It…I mean, I…aw shit, I’m not sure what I mean. But what I know is that I haven’t had that much of a workout in a long time! And I know when you leave, I more than likely won’t ever see you again.”
She bit her lip, which quivered under the onslaught, and went on, determined to finish. “And I think I will miss you. I don’t know shit about you, but you look like you’d be a lot of fun. And until the new wears off of you, we’d have a whole lot of fun like tonight.”
She suddenly looked at him with those big green eyes burning with a resignation that angered her. “Then, it’ll all go away, just like everything else, and I get left with nothing. But that’s all right. Hell, I got used to that years ago. It was just that for a minute, I wondered what it might be like, that’s all. Just what it might be like to actually get something worth having and keep it.”
A few tears rolled down her cheeks, a tribute to both the depth of her feelings and the strength of her commitment not to let it all out.
“When I went to the john, I just wanted to get away from you for a minute. Like I was gonna get too far from there. Stupid, huh? But it gave me a little time to think. And that’s always been dangerous.”
All the while she had been talking, Terry had been looking at her as if for the first time. She was still beautiful, as he had seen before. Now, he realized there was more to that beauty than he had seen. Whatever her reasons for becoming what she was, they weren’t good enough. Not to keep her there anyway. She wanted more. This was no whore. This was a woman that sold herself to find herself. And dammit, she found him as well.
She had one habit he would have to break though. She seemed to like the sound of her own voice a little too much. So to shut her up, Terry picked what was usually the most successful tact. He pulled her up and kissed her.
For a second, she stared at him over the kiss. Then, as if in resignation to a fate she really didn’t mind, she melted into his arms, tonguing his mouth with a passion he found hard to equal. After several seconds, Terry laid back, pulling her up onto his chest. This was for two reasons. One, to keep contact with her so Charlie could locate her elusive occupant, and two, because he enjoyed the feeling of her warm body lying on top of his.
In his mind, he told Charlie,
“You find her Chrliti and see what the hell his deal is while I keep her,”
he snickered at the choice of words, “
occupied
.”
He could feel Charlie’s mind inside his own, already reaching out to find his counterpart, blanching at the pun. “
Yes, well, her occupant has a few questions to answer for me. And I intend to have those answers.
”
Charlie was definitely altered, though how or how much was a mystery. For now though, Terry decided that the best thing he could do at this point was to let him do his thing, and maybe, when this was over, he might just go back to normal. Whatever that was.
Traci, meanwhile, was busy nuzzling Terry’s neck. She had no inkling as to what was going on, as far as the Chrliti were concerned. She was in the dark for the most part as to what was actually going on with Terry, but at the moment, she did not give a damn. Her body still tingled with the afterglow of the most intense orgasms she could remember. If this was the only night she was going to get with this guy, so be it, but she was going to enjoy as much of him as she could. And when he was gone, she could go back to…no, no she couldn’t do that. She knew she couldn’t go back to the life she had been living up to this point. It made no sense to even try.
So she slid down Terry’s body, mouthing him every so often on the way.
Terry tensed as she did, mentally shouting,
“You better hurry up, Charlie!”
Concentrating mightily, Charlie didn’t even answer as he began to search again. He could hold out Terry’s and Traci’s neurological intensity, but while he did, it would be more than he could handle to perform any kind of meaningful search.
As Traci neared her target, Terry’s phone suddenly erupted with a ring tone he had set to alert him when his answering service called. Feigning a degree of importance he didn’t feel, he motioned her quiet as he answered.
The voice on the other end of the line said in crisp, efficient fashion. “Mr. Bridger, you have a call from an Agent Smyth, out of the Indiana office of the FBI. He says you will remember him from—”
Terry cut her off viciously. “I know where I remember him from! I don’t need a reminder!”
The woman on the other end didn’t push the issue. She was well aware of what Terry did for a living. He had used that to impress upon them the importance of getting his calls. It had always worked, but in the case Smyth had referred to, Terry’s memories were too fresh to be ignored.
“I’m sorry,” Terry apologized. She was just doing her job. And quite well.
The woman maintained her demeanor. “I understand, sir. I apologize for bringing it up, but I don’t know the particulars.”
That was good enough for Terry. “So what does Mr. Smyth want?” he asked hurriedly. Traci was still lying on his stomach and raring to go. He had to keep a hand on her to physically restrain her from continuing. Inside his head, he queried Charlie for an update.
“How’s it going in there?”
Without turning from his work, Charlie replied shortly.
“Still can’t seem to get through to him. It’s like he’s there, but he won’t respond. I may have to take drastic measures.”
Terry didn’t like the sound of that.
“Such as?”
Without a hint of any of his newfound humor, Charlie simply asked,
“Where is the Taser?”
Terry nearly dropped the phone. In his mind, he fairly shouted at Charlie.
“You will not Taser her just to get this thing’s attention!”
Charlie backed off immediately, saying,
“I was only kidding! And no, I don’t know why! This is starting to scare me, too!”
Traci, meanwhile, was becoming antsy. She was confused, too, but her answer to the whole thing was more primal. If she had screwed up her life almost beyond repair and this was her last chance to fix it or if it was too late and all this would ever be is a memory to serve as a reminder of what she lost, she seriously intended for it to be a good one.
Terry pulled her up to face him, still keeping as much body contact as he could, as he put a finger to his lips and mouthed the words, “This is important.” Not happy but at least not ignored, she pouted playfully but said nothing. He had a job to do, and she knew it had to come first at least at the moment. And besides, she had already decided they had all night.
Terry wrote down a number to reach Smyth, thanked the operator and clicked off the phone. Turning to look at the girl still on his chest, he mentally checked with Charlie.
“How goes the hunt?”
He could feel Charlie’s tension. It was unlike him as well.
“I found him, but he still doesn’t respond. It’s like he’s dazed or stunned. If I thought it was possible, I’d say he was drunk.”
Terry wanted to ask how Charlie knew what it was to be drunk but remembered when he had first found out about him, he had spent several days on a tear that would have set a record somewhere. If nothing else in those days, Charlie learned about drunk.
“Do what you can, but do it fast. This girl is hot to trot, and to tell the truth, so am I. And I don’t think you have anything to say about it.”
Again, he could feel the grin.
“Ah, but that is where you are wrong, old friend.”
A moment later a rather rude noise escaped from Traci.
“Ohh! I’m sorry. I didn’t realize it had been so long since I’d eaten.”
In an overly dramatic act of chivalry, Terry did his best to look suitably astonished. In his best over-the-top voice, he roared, “What? My lady has not partaken of victuals of late? I say thee nay varlet! Come, we must conquer this dreaded dragon of hunger afore it decimates my lady farther!”
Traci’s brow knitted together in a confused look before she finally squared off looking him in the eye as she said, “Huh?”
Then, in a southern accent equally over played, he drawled, “Let’s get us some vittles!”
Traci’s face fell like the proverbial ton of bricks. She stared in open-mouthed astonishment at Terry for all of three seconds. Then she doubled over in laughter.
“Are you crazy?”
“More than a little!” Terry smiled back. “Now, where do we find a decent pizza in this berg?”
Traci made a face. “Ugh! Please! Most of these guys wouldn’t know good pizza if it bit ‘em.”
Terry raised an eyebrow. “Sounds like a little snobbery in there. Where did you say home was anyway?”
She gave him a mischievous smirk. “I didn’t. But if you need to know, I’m from Chicago. And if
Big Gino
ever ate a pizza in this place, he’d swear out a blood oath to kill everybody here that thought they could cook. Strangely enough, though, they do have a little Italian restaurant that makes a great veal parmesan. And they have a truffle oil vinaigrette salad that will curl your socks.”
Terry looked her up and down then said casually, “Funny, you don’t look Italian.”
She grinned openly at him. “I’m an honorary pisan. Big Gino gave me the whole spiel and kissed me on both cheeks.”
“I thought that was the mafia?”
“Whatever. Do you want to try one?”