Alien Tongues (27 page)

Ivan was proud that he could understand the subtleties of this arrangement, and that the success of his boss's scheme depended upon the casino's desire to keep the peace at all costs.  But there was something he didn't like about the fact that his huge frame, which looked even more massive in the tuxedo which was
de rigueur
attire for that establishment, was being used as a visible threat to the civilized good order that its clients cherished.  It meant he was effective at his job simply because people were intimidated by his appearance.  That made him feel a bit like a circus exhibit.

He was allowed moderate drinking on duty in order to appear tolerably sociable.  He knew that night that, like many others, he had somewhat surpassed the limit he was expected to impose on himself.  He justified it to himself because this was a somewhat tedious duty, during which nothing had happened for months.  Not that he wanted anything to happen, so that he had to turn his implied physical threat into a reality.  As always, after checking that no one was attempting to approach his boss, Ivan would take a few moments to study the people round both their own card table and the ones close by.

A waitress approached him and asked if he wanted a refill, which he accepted.  "I see many looking-Asia people in casino tonight," he commented to her in a thick Russian accent.

"Chinese," the waitress said.  "There's a group in tonight.  Some of them are really loaded.  Money, that is."  She paused. "Oh, maybe booze, too.  Some of these women can't hold their liquor."  She nodded to the table next to them.  A young Chinese woman sat there, facing the same direction that he was, wearing a backless white dress.  Ivan had never seen a Chinese back before, and was amazed at how white it was.  The woman seemed to have poise, but then there would be an occasional, sudden movement which suggested inebriation.  "I'm told she's trying to forget about her divorce.  Don't know why she's not celebrating.  Seems in China, the ex-husband can't touch the millions she owns."

Ivan continued to stare at her, intrigued.  He thought her very pretty and wondered why she would get divorced.  Then she turned her head and her gaze met his.  He cursed himself for staring, which was obviously drawing a silent rebuke from her. But instead of a scowl, she smiled at him.  Without thinking, he found himself smiling back.  Her smile got broader.  For Heaven's sake, Ivan thought, she's gorgeous and she seems to have some interest in me!  He dragged his gaze dutifully back to his boss and checked that the coast was still clear.

Moments later he felt, then saw, a small female hand on his shoulder.  It belonged to a petite Asian girl with golden hair and skin to match.  She was very cute, Ivan thought, though less his type than the divorced Chinese lady.  "I saw you glancing at that woman," the girl said.  "Don't bother to go there."

Ivan was amazed and excited to hear fluent Russian.  His English was always a struggle, and he felt it was a big disadvantage when it came to foreign women.  "Thank God I meet a Russian speaker!  Where are you from, Baby?"

"I'm Chinese like all the other Asians you see tonight," she told him, "But I'm from close to the Russian border so your language is my second."  She glanced over to the divorced woman with dislike. "She's Shanghai-nese." 

Ivan understood little distinction between different areas of China, but he did sense that this girl was not a guest of the casino.  "You're working here?" he asked.

She nodded and smiled.  "Freelance, invited because of the Chinese clients.  But I would rather talk with you than them.  I don't like their sort of Chinese."

"Oh, why's that?"

She leaned against the table, slightly obstructing his view of his boss.  He decided it was not so urgent as to risk being rude and asking her to move.

"Because they act like they own everything and everybody.  I mean, just see the way that woman looked at you just now.  Like she was trying to decide if she wanted to sleep with you tonight or not."

"You are kidding me?" Ivan said, shocked.

"Why?  She's just divorced, she lonely in a foreign city, she's not attracted to any of the Chinese men.  She needs some handsome foreigner to tell her how attractive she is."

"I would gladly be the man to do that," Ivan remarked, sighing.

The girl shook her head. "I don't recommend getting involved with her.  She'll make you run around after her, taking her shopping, to boring concerts and operas, to parties full of the worst kind of people.  You'll never have any fun in your life again."  She stepped behind him and began massaging his shoulders.  "Now, someone like me would be all the fun you want."

Ivan did no doubt it.  The girl had a lovely manner about her.  Yet she was, in effect, a professional and he would be paying to be entertained, as he usually did. The divorced woman offered something outside of his experience and above his expectations – a high-society, beautiful lady who needed a companion and who apparently liked his looks.  Maybe she did need pampering, but just now that seemed part of the challenge and excitement.  Could he satisfy such a woman?  He really wanted to try.  Maybe he could be a lover like no other she had experienced.  But how to make a move in this situation?

"Actually, I'm a rather quiet man at heart," he told the girl.  'I've been looking for something more permanent recently.  And I actually like concerts and opera."

From behind him the girl said, "I see I am going to have to be more persuasive."  Ivan noticed a tan-skinned woman, dressed similarly to this one, look in their direction and smile, as if the girl had just signaled her.  "This is Phyllis," the girl said, "And by the way I'm Jenny.  How would you like the two of us tonight for the price of one?"

This is the way luck always works, Ivan thought.  For months nothing happens, then suddenly one night you are given the choice between, or at least the chance of, two different heavens.  Why couldn't it be spread around a little more?  Why was it mainly famine, with the very occasional feast and no leftovers permitted?  Both Phyllis and Jenny looked hot, and the combination of their skins together seemed particularly exotic. 

"Ladies, you are unbelievably tempting," he told them, "But if the lady over there is actually interested in me, I would regard it as the opportunity of a lifetime."

Phyllis also spoke in fluent Russian. "These romantic Europeans," she said, rolling her eyes. "OK, let's match that with another opportunity of a lifetime."  She signaled across the room to a tall, thin woman who looked to Ivan like a supermodel.  As she walked towards them, Ivan was reminded of how a leopard's body had slinked through the African
velt
in some wildlife program he had once watched.  This girl took the chair next to him at the table, as Phyllis also retreated behind him and introduced her as Tina.  He felt the girls' hands on his shoulders and neck.  He could scarcely believe how low and loose the front of Tina's dress hung, making it clear she wore no bra and almost defying a man not to catch a glimpse inside.  She placed a hand high up his thigh and started a gentle massage motion, while staring Ivan in the face.  He realized from her eyes that she was drunk.

"This is the offer of the Century that I've never made before," Jenny said.  "Three for the price of one."

To Ivan, there was something incredibly arousing about Tina.  It seemed like a sort of hunger.  Maybe she was a call-girl, but this was one of those rare occasions where it didn't seem to matter.  He was always expecting an act, but this time it just didn't seem like one.  Suddenly he felt he needed to please this woman as much as he wanted to please the divorced woman.  It was a stupid thought with a call-girl, he knew, but then you simply couldn't rationalize this weird combination of sexual desire and desire to please.  At that moment, be believed that the finest moment in his life would be to give Tina an orgasm.

He gave a long-overdue glance towards his boss.  A young man had joined the table on the other side of him, and was trying to strike up a conversation.  His boss seemed irritated and nervous about this, yet it didn't seem to Ivan a strong enough reason to leave his seat.  His boss glanced Ivan's way, and he obviously took in the three girls surrounding him.  Ivan thought he saw some alarm on his boss's face, but couldn't think why that should be.  Enough women had approached him in the past – the only different tonight was that they were both gorgeous and numerous.  And they were not blocking his path to his boss.

"Tina, Baby, you dropped an earring!" Jenny said.  Ivan turned his head back to see Tina feeling one naked ear, a deep frown on her brow.  Then she looked at him and gave a big, apologetic smile.

"Darling, could you move your chair back a fraction?  I just want to check under your feet…"  With that, she got down on her hands and knees. Briefly, Ivan had a clear view of her entire, naked chest, all the way down to her navel.  He stood up from his chair without even thinking about what he was doing, to let her crawl beneath his feet.  It occurred to him that he should help her, but both the potential anger of his boss at such behavior, and the glimpses he was being treated to just now, prevented him.  He told himself the first reason was the real driver, but felt honest guilt about the second. 

It felt like the two girls behind him had helped him with moving the chair.  When Tina seemed quickly to find what she was looking for and stood up, they proceeded to helpfully push the chair back under him.  Even Tina now appeared to want to help, perhaps out of gratitude.  It felt like six female arms were guiding his large frame back into place on the small chair, making every effort to ensure his stability and not worrying about any accidental intimacy from their hands.  It was a wonderful feeling, as if three beautiful nurses were carefully lowering him into bed.  Again, Tina's expanse of bare flesh was thrust close to his face as she held his upper thigh with both hands.  He looked up to her face where her drooping eyelids betrayed her inebriation.  She grinned at him apologetically, and very sexily, as she stumbled slightly and her arm slipped further to his groin.  Genuine clumsiness or staged, it delivered an erotic sensation.

Again, he was overdue for a glance at his boss, but those last ten seconds were just a tiny fraction of the hours he spent waiting as nothing happened.  So it was with considerable shock that Ivan noticed that a second man had just sat down on the other side to the young man, and that a conversation started between the three of them.  This could be another player, or this could be the moment of danger they had planned for.  It was essential that he not take his eyes off his boss from this moment on, ready for the secret signal to move in.

But it was at this same moment that he fully noticed a strangely uncomfortable sensation in his
testes
.  He realized that the sensation had actually begun earlier, but he had unconsciously dismissed it because of his excitement over Tina.  After all, there was only so much room in those tuxedo pants, and when one object took up greater space then adjacent objects were bound to feel restricted.  But a man is so used to such suddenly flows of genital discomfort that a completely new sensation suggests something highly unusual.  Despite his commitment to keep his eyes on his boss, he was obliged to glance down at his lap.  There, up against his genitals, he could see a piece of what he took to be black metal.  It curved out from underneath his buttocks and back into his groin, ending in what seemed like two prongs.  The prongs were undoubtedly the source of pain in his testicles which continued to increase.  He forced himself to look up at his boss, but saw only the smiling face of Jenny.

"If you value keeping your genitals attached to your body, do not make any move," came Phyllis's voice, her lips brushing his ear. "The clever little device between your legs has got a retractable blade.  Right now I'm retracting it. But if I let go it's liable to spring out from between those little prongs and directly into your erect Peter.  So please do not make any sudden moves that might cause me to lose my grip."

Jenny did not speak, but continued to smile at him warmly and now lightly brushed his hair, thereby obscuring his vision further with her arms.  Given Phyllis's instructions, it seemed like just too much of a risk to try and lean around her and catch his boss's eye.  He realized he was perfectly trapped.  Perhaps he could have just pushed these girls aside but, unless Phyllis was bluffing, the consequences would be disastrous.  And in his experience, if Phyllis were bluffing, she was a convincing actress.

In effect, the casino had now called his boss's own bluff.  Unquestionably it had committed itself to his boss's arrest and was prepared to suffer the penalty of any resulting disturbance.  The chances of him now getting enough cards off the table seemed quite low.  All that would be gained by action now, at enormous personal risk, was to prove his loyalty to his boss and implement nothing more than some very limited damage control.  His boss might already be far enough away not to notice his gesture of loyalty, and might already be blaming him for his failure to respond.

"Don't worry about losing your job with that guy," Phyllis continued to say in his ear. "He's going to jail.  We have an employer who's offering an excellent opportunity for your full cooperation."

Ivan prided himself in being a practical man.  He had been outsmarted by these girls but, retracing his behavior, he didn't think he had done anything really foolish.  Should he have refused to move his chair when a lady went on all-fours looking for an earring?  If such suspicion were required of him, he was not the man for this type of job.  Anyway, in truth, his boss had it coming to him.  He sighed inwardly at the realization that the divorced woman had been nothing but an excuse to surround him with the fantasy of a threesome, sucking him into a truly delicious trap.  If he not taken that bait, for certain they would have had a range of fallback strategies.  What a team they were!  Bizarrely, their ruthless efficiency made them even sexier.  He had soundly lost to them as a security agent.  If he was to salvage any of his dignity, there was nothing left but to be a gentleman.