index


Message-ID: <62040asstr$1334337003@assm.asstr-mirror.org>
From: TBD <tbd@hushmail.me>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Cancel-Lock: sha1:ZMRsNeeoWEMqd4rBxeIHnrL+Kfo=
Subject: {ASSM} Rigged Games: One dream, two stories (zoo, nobest, het, trucker) TBD
Lines: 2125
Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2012 13:10:03 -0400
Path: assm.asstr-mirror.org!not-for-mail
Approved: <assm@asstr-mirror.org>
Newsgroups: alt.sex.stories.moderated,alt.sex.stories
Followup-To: alt.sex.stories.d

Rigged Games: One dream, two stories (zoo, nobest, het, trucker)

    Here are my original notes. I don't remember if I dreamt the
second scene as part of the dream, or thought of it while I was
thinking about it, after I woke up.
    ---



    Dream Sequence.

    Living at trailer park at side of isolated road. Check point of
some sort set up. I'm amused by it all, and ignore it until someone
comes back to get me because someone wants to see me at the check
point.

    Some sort of past coming back, whoever it is, it's obvious they
know I was (am) zoo?

    =============

    Version 2: Trucker on road, pulled over at check point and told to
open empty trailer...
    ---------

    smuggled messages inside Oreo, disguised as an iud

    Oreo is his bitch
=====

Rigged Game: Version 1
    -------

    Living in a small RV park in the middle of nowhere is usually a
nice thing, when you're retired. It's quiet most of the time, except
during travel season when half the country has decided to go somewhere
else, with their kids, dogs, cats, screeching birds...

    What some folks travel with never ceases to amaze me. Gertie, my
German Shepherd bitch, has learned to ignore it all unless someone
actually rattles the gate to my space while she's outside, then she
lets me know if they are old friends, or strangers.

    This time, the noise coming from the front of the park was
different than usual, so when we took our morning walk, I made it a
point to check out the front of the property. When we got there I
looked at Gert before we turned around and headed back.

    "Relax, girl. Just another random check point. Nothing we need to
worry about."

    I didn't hide my sigh, though. Because of the trucks, it was going
to be noisy for the rest of the day, and people killing time would
probably be wandering the park, which meant kids and dogs, neither of
which would be on leashes sometimes.

    Oh, well. Gert knew enough to ignore the commotion, and she
wouldn't accept any invitations to come to the fence and get attention
or food, so after I locked the gates, I'd relax and enjoy the show.

    Realistically, there was nothing else I could do unless I loaded
up and we headed out, which would mean getting caught in the check
point when we got back, a time wasting event I wasn't interested in.

    By noon the number of people and pets wandering the park had
gotten excessive, so I decided to fix our lunches and settle under the
patio umbrella to keep an eye on things, just in case. Maybe being
visible would reduce the amount of trash tossed over my fence.

    I was hand feeding Gert bits of the hot dogs I'd grilled when the
sight of a woman in uniform caught my attention. 'Why would she be in
the park? Looking for someone?'

    That didn't make sense, until the woman got closer and I realized
she was headed in our direction.

    Gert noticed her, focused, then looked over her shoulder at me
when the woman stopped to lean on the gate.

    I sighed. "Relax, Gert."

    I raised my voice. "What can we do for you?"

    "Be nice, Jim. Hello, Gertie."

    "You know us?"

    "Mind if I come in?"

    "That's not an answer."

    "Wasn't meant to be."

    "Should I know you?"

    "Knew me quite well, before you 'retired'. Biblically, in fact."

    I winced when I put the manner together with my past. "Ruth?"

    "Uh huh. Been a long time, hasn't it?"

    "Not long enough. You here officially, or socially?"

    "Mixed. No search warrant, so don't waste your time asking to see
one. It's not that kind of visit."

    "I'm not feeling very social."

    "Didn't expect you to be. That's part of why I'm here. They
figured you'd be more likely to at least hear me out, instead of
inviting me to leave."

    I shook my head wearily, then dug in my pocket without getting up.
I tossed her the keys. "It's the one with the 'G' on it. Gertie! It's
ok."

    Ruth let herself in, then made sure the gate was relocked before
she turned and offered her hand to Gertie without any silly comments.

    Gertie sniffed, looked at me, and I sighed deeply again. "Friend."

    She sneezed and turned back to nudge Ruth for some attention.

    Ruth petted her briefly, then strode over and settled in the chair
opposite mine.

    "What would have happened if the two of you had decided I wasn't a
friend?"

    "Depending on your attitude, Gertie would have kept an eye on you
while I made some calls to find out if you're entitled to wear that
uniform. Wrong attitude, you would have been waiting for me to make
those same calls, but been doing it while you were handcuffed to
something immovable."

    "What about my backup?"

    "Wouldn't have made a difference to you, unless they shot me with
something, and if they are here, they're damn good, because none of
the other dogs in the park have gone off to announce intruders in
their yards."

    "No backups. I came in alone."

    "I don't get it."

    "We want you back."

    "I never wanted to leave."

    "Rules, Jim. Well, they've changed, and it doesn't matter if they
hadn't."

    My eyebrows went up. "I'm too well known, after what happened.
Purloined letter stuff?"

    "We never did figure out how you managed to smuggle those
messages."

    "Nice try. You still won't hear it from me. Never know, I might
need to do it again. What brings you here socially?"

    She looked around briefly, smiled, then faced me. "When this job
is over, I'm retiring. Is your offer still open?"

    "Don't know."

    "I wasn't the one who fingered you as an animal fucker."

    "You tesified though. You were the one who confirmed it. I can't
ignore that."

    "Not asking you to ignore it. Did what I gave my oath to do, tell
the truth. So did you, as I recall. If you'd denied it, or downplayed
how important Thelma was to you, you might have been slapped on the
wrist and told to drop it until after you retired."

    "Non issue, since the outcome was my retirement."

    "Is it safe to be talking this openly?"

    I laughed. "Convince me you didn't do your homework before you
came looking for me."

    I stood and stretched. "Since you want a chance to convince me I
should go back to work, let's go inside where you don't have to act
like that uniform belongs on you, and you can admit all that activity
out front was done just so you had an excuse to wander around and
strike up a conversation when you happened to meet an old friend."

    She smiled. "Old friend? More than I expected this soon. I'll take
it."

    I chuckled. "You always were a pushy bitch."

    She blushed, then followed us inside the trailer.

    Once we settled, Gert decided to go back outside.

    Ruth watched her leave, then sighed. "Reinstatement at your
original pay scale, as if you were never retired. Officially, since it
was all internal, your retirement will be shown as you going deep
cover."

    I laughed. "Deep cover? Can't get much deeper than retired
civilian."

    She nodded. "Naturally, we've kept track of you. Thanks for making
it easy for us, by moving out here. If you care, nobody has
intercepted anyone who might have been looking for you."

    I shrugged. "Want some lunch? I wasn't making it easy for anyone
and you know it. I like my walks, and with the river nearby, Gertie
can chase ducks while I lean against a tree and do some fishing. Idle
contemplation is good for the soul. You should try it sometime."

    "I'll have whatever you want to throw together. The random check
out front is real enough, I tagged along to keep the by the book
trainees under control. Time for them to learn some common sense if
they want to get behind the wheel of a rig later, and you convinced us
of the wisdom of letting them see all the things that OTR folks will
let slide far enough it could kill them later."

    "Thanks. Sounds like a good way to be remembered, in a list of
rules somewhere, instead of being remembered as 'that animal fucker'."

    I set all the fixings for the hot dogs on the table, then smiled
when Gert showed up to watch me cook the dogs themselves.

    "No matter what happens, I don't feel like moving. Got my wireless
internet, too, so I'm not as out of touch as it looks."

    "We want your driving skills and your silence along with them, of
course. No smuggling."

    She corrected herself before I could comment. "No traditional
smuggling, I suppose. I can tell you more, if you agree to come back."

    "Yeah? Doesn't make sense, Ruth, and you know it. Try again, this
time with all of it. While you're at it, how come it took this long
for you to decide you were interested in my offer?"

    She was silent while I finished cooking, then she ate a couple of
the hot dogs and smiled. "Remember that mountain stream in the dead of
winter?"

    I chuckled. "Of course. Thelma was so cold she crawled in the
sleeping bag with us, and then decided she wanted to be fucked. Was a
memorable three way after you recovered from your surprise that she
and I were lovers."

    She smiled back. "You could have stopped her, and I never would
have known."

    "I'd been testing you for months, so I was pretty certain you'd be
ok with it."

    "Testing me? You never mentioned that."

    "Wasn't any need to. Better off keeping silent about it. Fewer
words spoken aloud, less chance of an ear hearing things it
shouldn't."

    "I wanted to find out if your offer was still good, because if it
is, I want to join you here and get my own dog after I retire."

    "You what?!"

    "I want my own dog."

    "Something's changed."

    She sighed. "A lot. They want *us*, because I'm tolerant, and
you're active. Plus, more importantly, we keep quiet about how we
feel. But, there's an even bigger catch to it. They want us because
our passenger is also active, and gay about it, too. If there is any
suspicion, he needs deniability, which means once the job starts, I go
from latent to active."

    I settled and thought it over before I nodded reluctantly. "This
still isn't making a lot of sense. This business about you going from
latent to active, for example. That's a minor point. Worry about it
later.

    "As you must recall, I was asked to retire, for the good of The
Service. Now, they want me back? I wasn't the only class A driver. You
were, too, and just as good as they said I was. The bottom line is
that I'm not needed as a driver, and I have trouble believing anyone
is interested in 'rehabilitating' me back into being a good citizen.
It's a nice fantasy, but realistically... No. Something's missing. Do
I get to know what it is before I decide?"

    She sighed. "Believe it or not, the reasoning was simple and
direct:

    "Item one: Fuel prices are high, and going higher.

    "Item Two. Portable weapons are becoming more and more deadly.

    "Item Three: Because of that, armored limos aren't as safe as they
need to be, and won't be. Something bigger and heavier is needed, that
isn't an outright tank."

    "Item four: Due to popuar sentiment and the current economy, it
makes no sense to have an armored vehicle that isn't working at least
five days a week to help defray its costs.

    "Conclusion: Since a rig's mileage sucks under the best
conditions, they decided to make an armored one, and even when it's
fulfilling it's primary job of being transport for a very important
person, it can be used to ferry trailers from location to location."

    She leaned back and studied me before she smiled. "You're not at
the head of a 'short list', Jim. You're the only one on it. Being an
active zoo is irrelevant, except for the bonus of the passenger
knowing he has someone driving who isn't going to try and advance
their own fortunes at his expense."

    "Why would The Service?..."

    I stared at her, speechless.

    She nodded. "Finally figured it out? Presidential Trucking. He
gets the privacy and protection he needs, and the rig helps pay for
itself, something that will endear him to the taxpayers. You're
already used to being a civilian driver, so we won't have to waste
time training someone else n all the quirks involved in the transport
business. The job starts immediately, because the rig is built, and
waiting for the official driver."

    I sighed. "I'm in. Have you driven it yet?"

    "Handles ok. It's based on a forty foot dump chassis so they could
have enough room for the mobile command center. Left enough room on
the back for the hitch. The cg is pretty low, so tipover is unlikely."

    I managed a chuckle. "Even with the composites, that sucker must
be massive. You said dump chassis? How many tag axels?"

    "Two. Armored supersingles on them and the front, with a dolly
system in case you lose a front tire. Shouldn't matter though, because
all the tires and rims are oversized versions of the run flats they
use on the limos."

    "So where's my new ride?"

    "Masquerading as a custom rig, out front. I brought it this far,
you get to take it the rest of the way, as if it were an ordinary rig,
unless you want the media circus. If you do, I'm authorized to remove
the disguise."

    I shook my head. "Keep the disguise."

    I looked around, not seeing the trailer, but all those years of
exile. Ruth waited me out and when I came out my trance and sighed,
she nodded. "Going to miss all this?"

    My eyebrows went up. "Not really. I'm going to take it with us,
because I can't leave it here, and selling it isn't an option."

    "Selling isn't an option?"

    "I thought you folks were keeping an eye on me?"

    "We did. What does that have to do with selling your trailer and
moving out?"

    I leaned sideways and dug a hammer out of my tool drawer, handed
it to her, and spoke mildly. "Do me a favor. Try and break the window
next to you."

    She casually swung sideways, and the hammer bounced.

    She swung harder, and it bounced again.

    She repositioned herself, got a solid two handed grip and put some
muscle into her swing.

    The hammer bounced.

    I laughed at her stunned look. "The whole trailer is armored,
including the roof and floor. Did it a few pieces at a time from the
inside, except for the windows, which I had custom made before I
installed them myself as part of an efficiency upgrade."

    She looked around, smiled at something, and turned back to me. "If
you're not interested in selling it, consider leasing it."

    "Leasing?"

    "The Man will need a place he can relax and host people in when
he's on the road, right? This would solve some of those security
problems we run into when he gets impulsive, if it's handy. Is it
still light enough a one ton will handle it?"

    "Yes. Still leaves my rig and car to worry about."

    She shrugged. "How attached to them are you?"

    I nodded and sighed. "They can be sold. Nothing special about them
once I remove all the personal items."

    She laughed. "Hang on to them for now. Maybe you can auction them
off as originally belonging to the first driver for Presidential
Trucking. Ought to help increase your nest egg."

    I laughed, then sobered. "Got a another question. Does his wife
know?"

    "She does, and picked out his current dog to make it look like a
normal gift to replace the one they had before."

    "Kids?"

    "None, and don't plan on having any, so he's had a vasectomy.
Don't know about her. Definitely non-zoo even though she's accepting."

    "Good. How long do I have to get ready?"

    "How long do you need?"

    "I can be ready by morning. I'll let the manager know I'll be
moving out, since there's no point in keeping the space. After that,
I'll empty what little is in the shed and prep the trailer for towing.
If it's ok, we can pull the trailer with the new rig and load my car
on the back of mine, since it's set up to carry it. The only question
after that is who drives which rig."

    She thought about it. "I'll have to call in. The assumption was
that you'd be driving it the rest of the way, so that isn't a problem.
I think I can make it more attractive if we pull the trailer with your
rig and have someone drive the rig and your car."

    "Doesn't matter to me. I assumed that it would be best to take all
my stuff now, because I don't expect to be back for at least four
years, and this way I can decide what I want to keep and what I want
to store or sell. Should I assume that unless I'm driving The Man,
I'll probably be doing local or fairly short range hauls?"

    "Most likely a mix, but in fact, I don't know if anyone has done
any research to find out what it will cost to keep the new rig cost
effective as a commercial tractor."

    I sighed. "Oh, come on. Are you telling me someone had this
wonderful idea, which to me sounds more like a pr dream than any sort
of serious effort at being practical, and nobody bothered to do any
research?"

    She nodded. "If they have, nobody told me about it."

    "Great. Does it have a CA number?"

    She groaned. "Damn! No, it doesn't. I don't know if that's an
oversight, or someone is doing some creative accounting. As far as I
know, this is the first time anyone has tried to hire out a
Presidential vehicle to help make it pay for itself."

    I laughed. "I hope he's not going to insist on climbing out of the
cab and then telling people the economy is in great shape."

    She laughed. "Wouldn't go over, would it? I don't know what the
final spin will be. Something to do with reducing the taxpayer burden,
is all I know."

    "Ours not to reason. I'll also assume anything we move will need
lots of security, because I can't see the rig moving without it. So,
the next question is what businesses are going to be willing to pay
for that kind of expensive specialty hauling?"

    Her smile got twisted. "That question, I can answer, even though I
disagree with the logic that says it will save the taxpayers money.
We're going to be moving a lot of prototypes built for bids on
government contracts. The idea is to have a dedicated rig for moving
them, and the companies will pay to have the prototype moved wherever
it has to go."

    "You're right. Someone is doing some creative accounting, if they
think that's going to do anything other than add a layer between the
taxpayer and the cost of the rig, which should add to the cost, not
reduce it. Personally, since part of the job description is 'protect
my passengers', I'd rather make the whole thing an open pr gambit, and
do nothing but haul around politicians when I'm not carrying the
President. That's what all of us are trained to do as our primary job.
We spend too much time hauling cargo, and we'll start losing our edge.
That's inevitable."

    "Is that a hint that once we get there, you're going to need a
refresher course? If so, don't worry about it. We're both going
through it, and so is Gertie, who is going to be fitted for a special
harness she'll have to wear while she's in the cab with you."

    "Ok."

    I frowned and held up a hand. "Hang on. I'm trying to tease out a
thought. Something to do with the expenses..."

    I thought about all the expenses of running a rig, and when I hit
'fuel costs', I had it and I groaned.

    "What is it?"

    "Something really insane, but easily missed, if you don't drive
the rig yourself."

    "Oh?"

    "Rigs aren't limos. They aren't 'turn the key on, start the
engine, and go'. Unless somebody has solved that problem, as long as
the President is nearby, it will have to be running all the time,
which means a driver behind the wheel. If that's the case, the fuel
costs just went into orbit, and we'll need at least one more driver,
unless you and I plan on rotating in and out of the sleeper when we're
on the road."

    She sighed. "Gods... I want to kill whoever encouraged this
insanity. I think it's time I went back to the rig and checked in.
We're way beyond what was covered in my briefing, before they handed
me the keys and told me to check in and do my best to convince you to
take them away from me. You might get several days to get ready to
leave, because some very important people are going to be running
around biting each other's heads off and doing some collective finger
pointing. I'd invite you along, but the best I can offer is a look
from the outside, since it's parked in plain sight."

    "I'll hook up Gert's leash and we'll take one of our strolls
around the park. Nobody will be surprised when I stop to study the rig
from a distance."

    I chuckled. "At least I won't have to ask which one I should be
interested in."

    She laughed. "I was mobbed when I got clear of the inspection
area."

    "Rig like that, and wearing that uniform, I bet a lot of people
are wondering what the link is."

    "I'm supposed to be a special inspector who is evaluating a
prototype for full otr certification."

    "Works for me. Am I an old friend you haven't seen in years, and
when you learned I lived here, you decided to drop in on me?"

    "Yes Saw your rig parked out front and wondered if it was you, so
I checked, since I was close to my mandantory break, anyway."

    "Got it."

    She stood and stretched. "One more thing, but it's not going to
get mentioned. The people who've been watching over you will be
switched over to being part of the security element for the rig. Since
new people won't have to be hired and trained, the savings from that
alone will pay all the expenses of running the rig. There will also be
the savings from reduced usage of the limos and One, when He's in the
states."

    "How are they justifying bringing me back and not using you and
some of the other people?"

    "Mostly, it's your impressive otr time and miles without an
accident or ticket. None of us can come close. To anyone who doesn't
know the reason you took an early retirement, the President was handed
a short list, and for his own reasons, never to be asked about, he
picked you and me as the people he wanted. The rumor mill says it was
because you and I have a history of being comfortable around dogs, and
nobody else has a history as dog handlers *and* truck drivers."

    "Hmmph. Skirting a little close to the truth, but it that's what
they want, I'll go along, of course. What's my official reason for
retiring, these days?"

    "What else? Job related stress. Now that you've had time to
recover, you'll be checked and declared fit for your new job."

    "And if I have to take a fall, there's a ready made excuse.
Smooth. I can admire the setup, even though I don't appreciate being
the target of all that effort."

    "We all are, and you know it. Part of the job they don't talk
about. If someone spots His dog as zoo, I've been doing it on the
side, and everyone will be appropriately shocked and disappointed, of
course."

    "Any experience with a dog, yet?"

    "No. The President has decided to gift me with a dog, once we've
got this driving stuff organized. He feels sorry for me because he and
you will have dogs but I don't."

    I sighed. "Tangled web. Going to be a crowded cab, even without
The Pres and his family."

    "Not as bad as you think. It's a big sleeper, and there are extra
seats and windows in it for the passengers. More room than the limos.
Behind the sleeper it's built more like a tour bus than a limo."

    "Ok. What about the usual screen? We're not the only ones covering
them, right?"

    "Four more that I know of. You and I are dedicated to doing the
driving chores, as of my most recent briefing."

    "Ok. Let's make sure anyone with us knows the basics of rig
handling, just in case. If we can, lets include the man and his wife
in that category. You never know."

    "Tucked away on the right side is a set of duplicate controls.
Except for the perspective, they work the same as the normal controls
and are in the same relative positions."

    "Good... Uhh... Stick around a few more minutes. I want to check
something on the net."

    "Something I can know about?"

    "This has been a long term project, right? Started before the
election?"

    "Of course. Taken a couple years to get the problems sorted out."

    "About what I expected. Ok. I want you to watch while I do a quick
search on the net for...."

    She sighed. "Presidential Trucking'?"

    "And a few other keywords."

    Five minutes later, we had an answer, and Ruth was not a happy
person.

    One of the first articles I found had a picture of the rig,
complete with known specs that were based on the original chassis.

    What made her angry was where the rig was parked when the picture
was taken. It was in front of the trailer park.

    I spoke calmly, to break the tense silence. "Might as well remove
the disguise, since it isn't working. Did you bring a change of
clothing?"

    She finally sighed. "Yes, I did. I have some new clothing, and a
working harness for you, too. I might as well bring them back here
after I get done checking in. I'll pull the security screen in, too,
and station some folks around your place."

    "Thanks. See what happens when you give whoever, the link to this
site, then I suppose you might as well find out what we can and can't
talk about."

    * * *

    An hour later she was in her working outfit and back in my
trailer.

    "You might as well figure on a busy day, two days from now. They
didn't know about your trailer being armored, so that's already solved
a problem we didn't have the sense to think about. That, Jim, is the
*good* news, as far as you and I are concerned."

    "The bad news?"

    "Someone will be here tomorrow, to spend some time talking to you,
then they'll rubberstamp you as fit to go back to work."

    "Ok. I assumed it would be something like that, before I was
handed the keys. What else?"

    "Paranoia. A special trailer will be showing up on the second day,
along with a limo. You, Gertie, and I, go into the trailer, strip, and
then we get a detailed body search and all that stuff, before you get
your new clothing and the rest of the gear."

    I sighed. "Sounds reasonable. Gertie will be ok, as long as I'm
there to let her know it's ok. Her vet routinely douches her, so
she'll accept it, probably.

    "Relax. Non invasive body scans, these days. We have tech
available that wasn't around when you were still working."

    "Good! Anything else?"

    "More routine stuff. They're sending drivers for your rig and car,
and everything loose will be stuffed in the trailer before it's
sealed, if we haven't done it already."

    "I understand. More of the 'glad to see you back, but we still
don't quite trust you again', stuff."

    "Actually, no. *We* trust you, and so does The Man. However,
because there's going to be full media coverage while this is going
on, we can't reveal just how close we've been keeping track of you.
The rules say..."

    "Yeah. The Rules. Quite a welcome back. Still, that's better than
exile."

    She reached and grabbed my hand. "Thanks. When we get where we
have to go, you get your stuff back, and you're going to donate your
trailer so it can be used by the security element that will be keeping
us company. To make it look good, it's going through a full check, as
if it is being customized. We don't say anything about the armor. It's
an edge we'd like to keep as long as possible."

    I sighed. "Sounds like we'll be living in the rig when it's on the
road."

    "Good guess. When we aren't, we'll be in a secured compound."

    I laughed. "All normal. I can get used to it again. Anything
else?"

    "I was asked about that offer you made."

    I nodded. "You're a hard woman to forget, Ruth. When we retire, it
will be there."

    "Good. I stuck my neck out and said it was still open. Glad I
guessed right."

    I got wary. "More 'for the good' stuff?"

    She blushed. "PR points. We both know that close relationships are
frowned on, right?"

    "Another rule change?"

    "New circumstances. The rules are being written on the fly."

    I groaned. "That's something I never expected to hear."

    "Makes you feel any better, it surprised me, too."

    "I'll know how I feel when you tell me what's going on."

    "That media coverage includes a marriage. Ours. Officially, since
we'll be spending so much time together, it was decided that we should
be a married couple, to reduce a lot of the inevitable tension there
would be if we were both single, or one of us was married and the
other wasn't."

    "You're saying that the new rules are going to insist that the
driving teams are married to each other?"

    "Yes. I even agree with the public reasoning, which is that it
will reduce the risk of blackmail if one of them is picked up by an
outsider, and subverted."

    I thought about it. "They aren't worried about us putting the life
of our partner ahead of whoever we have in the rig?"

    "That's the odd thing about this. Our primary responsibility is
the rig, not the passengers. Since both of us will almost always be
*in* the rig, there's not much we can do for the passengers when they
aren't in it. So, someone figures the usual rules are moot. If we're
outside the rig for some reason, then yes, we'll be expected to place
their lives first."

    I sighed. "And to do that, we have to be alive to drive the rig.
That means it becomes logical for us to think in terms of one of us
getting back to the rig, if we both happen to be away from it."

    "Exactly."

    "Ok, Ruth. We wouldn't be doing the job, if we both hadn't made
that decision about priorities a long time ago. They must know that,
if they want us married."

    She turned away and sighed. "They do, and this is a way to give us
some time together, just in case..."

    "Yeah. I'm still in. All of it. Can you spend the time here, while
we wait?"

    She turned back and smiled. "I was planning on it."

    I laughed. "Ok. That's settled. Anything else?"

    "Yes. Those websites you found? They're innocent watchdogs being
fed by some of our people. Someone decided it would be best if the
rig's existence were leaked to people with varying degrees of support
or opposition, so when the time came, all of our ducks would be lined
up, and theirs wouldn't be. I should have expected it, and I didn't."

    I sighed. "Another obvious after the fact situation. Oh, well.
It's nice to know those things haven't changed, either. To you,
privately, I'll admit I'm nervous as Hell about doing this, because
there's no rational explanation for how He's gone all the way and not
been discovered."

    "Nice to know you noticed that. I did, too, and decided that I
wasn't going to ask. If he volunteers the information, that's
different."

    "Most likely, he will, so be ready for it."

    "Ready? How?"

    "How else? We listen, make intelligent responses, then forget it
until he mentions it again. Be prepared for... Some unguarded gushing,
is one way to put it. Think in terms of coming out of the closet for a
gay, then multiply it by the stress of becoming 'The Man with the desk
it ALL stops at'.

    I watched her shudder before she spoke so softly I had to strain
to hear her. "I don't think there's a clearance to cover this sort of
stuff, is there?"

    "Sure there is. It's called 'the trust of a friend'."

    "That was written out of our job description decades ago."

    "No, it wasn't. What got written out was the friendship of our
peers. Nothing was ever said about making sure our shoulders were
always available to whoever we were taking care of. I don't think
anyone ever expected it to happen."

    "Gods, Jim. We've got some serious thinking and talking to do
between us, that we'll never be able to mention once we leave this
trailer."

    "I know. We have until the psych crew shows up. It will have to
do, and it's a sure thing that we'll miss something important."

    "Understood."

    "Ruth? Who told you he's gay with dogs?"

    "He did, in a private conference. He also gave me blanket
permission to discuss any of it with you."

    "So all you have is his word?"

    "Ahhh... No. He chased everyone else out, then, without saying
anything, confirmed it in the only way he could. Other than his wife,
I'm the only person who knows the truth. After a suitable amount of
time had passed, he allowed the rest of the team back in."

    "Ruth, I believe you, but something is missing, and I think you
know what it is."

    "As the senior driver qualified for the position, I delivered the
list, and discussed their qualifications with him."

    "You deserved to be there, as long as I wasn't around."

    "Thank you."

    "Ok. Since you're ducking, if I ask, are you allowed to confirm or
deny what I need to know?"

    "Yes."

    "Can you tell me who gave you permission?"

    "Since you are asking, and that was one of the conditions, yes. He
did."

    I sighed deeply. "That tells me what I wanted to know, doesn't it?
Which one of you put me on that list? I couldn't have been on the
original."

    "He did. He asked for you by name, then asked me what the truth
was, about your retirement at such an early age, with such an
outstanding record of service. I took an oath, Jim."

    "So you did, and you confirmed what he already suspected. Once
that happened, you and I were the only people he could choose. Was
that before, or after he... Demonstrated his sincerity?"

    "Before. The method he used to persuade me to lie on his behalf
was compelling."

    "Oh?"

    "Yes. It should sound familiar to you. 'Have I changed, because
you know the truth? Is everything I've stood for and accomplished,
suddenly meaningless?' "

    I hugged her. "Let's hope we don't do anything to give him away.
Who else knows the truth about my selection?"

    "Nobody. He asked for you by name, and felt strongly enough about
it that he felt your official reason for retiring was insufficient to
keep you from returning, if you desired to work again."

    "Was I supposed to know all this?"

    "I was told that if you were as good as your records seemed to
indicate, I wouldn't need to tell you any of it, only confirm it for
your peace of mind, to reduce the stress you will be living under for
the next four years."

    I shook my head slightly. "Eight years, I suspect. Let's do our
best to see that he gets a chance for the other four, if he wants
them."

    "Of course. Now that we have that part settled, you can show me
the bedroom, and we can do what needs to be done so we can indulge in
some pillow talk." 
======

Rigged Game: Version 2
    -------

    I'd seen the clustered vehicles in the distance, and once we got
close enough, I sighed.

    Yet another random check point.

    I started slowing the rig down, and once I got us stopped at the
end of the string, I glanced at the bitch riding in the sleeper.
"Well, Jess, looks like you get an unexpected break, if they'll let me
stay pulled off long enough."

    She stretched, then settled so she could watch what was going on.

    Eventually we were at the head of the line and I opened the door
so I could lean out and talk to the officer who had approached. He
smiled and pointed at an open area, motioned for me to park and kill
the engine, then kept going, so I pulled over and left Jess in the cab
when I got out. Had my log book with me though. It was a sure thing
they'd want to see it first.

    I also, due to my past, and natural paranoia about truck
hijacking, casually walked around the rig to ostensibly check things.
What I was really doing was activating some special security features
I'd installed.

    When I was done, there was no way to move the rig without a tow
truck, unless I turned everything on again.

    Eventually I was approached, and when I held out the log, they
both shook their heads. "Not important. Open the trailer."

    I sighed. "Empty. Sealed it in front of the shipper."

    "We're checking everybody. Sorry."

    "Do I get to call and let them know it's been opened and
resealed?"

    "After we check it."

    "Thanks." I reached in the cab for my keys and the seal cutter.
"Let's go, then."

    We walked to the back and I cut the seal, then unlocked it and
opened the door while they stood back, just in case there were any
surprises. I knew there wouldn't be, because I had hit the road
immediately after sealing it, and hadn't stopped yet.

    They both looked carefully at the empty trailer, then looked at
each other before they looked at me. The senior one held out his hand.
"Thanks. We had to be certain. Reseal it and my partner will stay here
while you and I deal with the rest of the check."

    He was looking over the axels on the trailer when Jess went off.
Whoever it was, they'd tried to get in the cab from the passenger
side, because I was on the driver's side while I waited for the
inspector to finish.

    I took off at a run, and when I came around the front of the rig I
spotted a woman standing on the running board with the door part way
open, and she was trying to soothe Jess, who was having none of it.

    "Lady, I don't know who you are or what you're trying to do, but
there's a damn good reason for those 'Guard dog on board' signs. Not
too bright to try and get in the cab with all these cops around,
either."

    "Your bitch have a name?"

    "Jess. Won't do you any good."

    "Sorry to bother you, Jess. Maybe Jim will tell you I'm ok. Hope
so."

    She closed the door and faced me. "Nobody told me you'd replaced
Oreo. Same rig, same signs, and they said you had a dog with you that
looked like Oreo, so..."

    She shrugged and waited.

    I stared at her in shock. "Anne?"

    "None other."

    "What are you doing, trying to get into my rig?"

    She smiled wryly. "The plan called for me to do it quietly, and
hope you wouldn't kick me out when you found me."

    I snorted. "And now that you've been caught?"

    "Hand me your log, so that's what everyone thinks I was planning
on looking for."

    I handed it to her and she opened it. While she was turning the
pages, she spoke quietly. "We've been waiting for you. After you and I
leave, with me openly in the cab, they'll keep up the inspections for
another couple hours, then they'll pack up and go set up somewhere
else, to make it look good."

    "We? That's pushing it."

    "Of course it is. It's all very official. I'm going to ride along,
taking advantage of a happy coincidence. You're headed in the same
direction I need to go, and once you drop the trailer, you'll head to
your next pickup point. I can have a ride waiting there, and that's
it, if you want it to be."

    "Be ok if I move the rig and take Jess for a walk, once the
inspection is done?"

    "No problem, as long as that's all you do. While you're at it, let
the people you're delivering this trailer to, know you'll be a little
late because of the random inspection. Don't forget to tell them you
had to cut the seal on the trailer, and that nothing was found."

    I narrowed my eyes at her. "You know a lot about my business,
which isn't smuggling, these days."

    Instead of answering directly, she placed a small object in my
hand. "I found this on your frame. Yours?"

    I glared at it, my irritation with her forgotten. "No. It wasn't
there when I inspected the rig at home, this morning. Only one place
it could have been planted."

    I handed it back and she replaced it where she'd found it. When
she got back to me she was grim. "Thanks. I was hoping you still
inspected your rig that thoroughly. You just confirmed something we
were almost certain of."

    I sighed. "Somebody wants to make sure my rig and this trailer go
where they are supposed to, right?"

    "Yes. Word we have is that if something goes wrong in transit, you
get to take a pretty hard fall."

    I turned to stare at the field we were next to, then I sighed.
"Can't be the usual stuff. Jess is trained, just like Oreo is. I let
her do a full inspection, and she never alerted. Owner never showed
any signs of being nervous when I explained what she was doing. Even
helped me lift her into the trailer."

    She gasped, then touched my arm gently. "I have a vet with us,
along with a lab. You'd better let her check Jess over."

    I spun. "They wouldn't!"

    "We don't know."

    She took a deep breath, and her eyes were sad. "But we allowed for
the possibility. Hook her up and we'll find out."

    I hooked Jess' leash up, and followed Anne while she led us to a
traveling vet clinic.

    All the tests came out negative, and Jess got her teeth cleaned
while we waited.

    I was being paranoid when I checked her leash and collar, and it
was on her collar that I found a surprise.

    "Anne. Take a look at this."

    I'd taken Jess' collar off and rotated it inside out, so all I did
was point to a bright spot I'd noticed. "Something embedded."

    She studied it, then took the collar from me and returned it to
normal before she looked at it again. "Sneaky. It's opposite where you
hook the leash. Good jerk and I think it would scratch Jess' neck.
Good thing she's as well trained as she is."

    I growled my anger and Jess jerked her head around to stare at me.
"Relax, Jess. I want these people, Anne. Whatever it is, I'm in."

    She held the collar out to the vet. "I want this fine toothed. Pay
careful attention to the needle that's on the inside, opposite the
d-ring. Check it for other surprises, too. Let's do a better scan of
Jess' fur to see if there are any surprises we missed. Take samples
and check for coatings on her hair. Think long term, something that
could be ingested by licking."

    "Got it. I'll hand this over to the lab techs, then I'll come back
for Jess. The counteragents for the most common stuff are inert unless
the agent triggers them, so I'll bring her current on her shots at the
same time I give her those, just in case."

    I nodded. "Thanks. While you're at it, take her out to go to the
bathroom. I promised her we'd take a break when the inspection was
done."

    "Will she go for one of us?"

    I smiled. "Maybe. Let me know when you're ready, and I'll be right
there, holding on to her leash. She'll definitely go when I ask her
to."

    "Ok."

    She delivered the collar, then came back and took Jess again.

    About forty five minutes later, the vet returned with Jess, and
the inspectors arrived at the same time. I figured Jess was more
important to me, so I gestured at the vet to go first, while the
inspectors were having a hurried consultation with Anne.

    "Only a fast acting sleep agent. Counter agent is usually
delivered in an aerosol, so we should check your cab. Nothing on her
fur but we gave her a good bath, anyway."

    Then she bent closer and whispered. "Just to be safe, she was also
douched, and it came up negative when we did the tests, except for one
thing. Should we lose that one? It's pretty unreliable, anyway."

    I sighed. "No. It would look odd if it hadn't come up positive."

    "Got it." She looked at the now waiting Anne. "Dealt with. Only a
sleep agent. All the tests that are supposed to be negative, were."

    Anne nodded. "Thanks. Go ahead and write up the report. We'll get
you a few other pets to make it look like the usual random screening."

    The vet left, and Anne sighed. "Plans have changed. They found a
surprise in one of your fuel tanks, and a few other packages
strategically located on your tractor. Nothing has been touched,
otherwise."

    I sighed. "That doesn't sound good."

    "It isn't. You were supposed to deliver the trailer, then as best
we can figure it, you were going to have a fatal accident."

    She smiled slightly. "They did have some good news, though."

    "Oh?"

    "Thanks to your paranoia, a person who tried to steal your rig is
now sleeping peacefully and waiting to be collected by the proper
authorities. He was very upset when the engine died of fuel starvation
while he was waiting for the air pressure to build up."

    I laughed. "About time all that fancy stuff paid for itself. I do
have a question, though."

    "Ask."

    "How did this person manage to get past your people, then hold
them off long enough to start the rig... AND expect to be undisturbed
long enough to build pressure, then back it out and get away?"

    Her eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "That is a very good question,
isn't it? At least two people were supposed to be watching your rig to
make sure that sort of thing couldn't happen. I thnk I need to hear a
more detailed report about what happened. Stay here until I get back."

    I shook my head slightly. "Maybe you'd better wait on that, until
you have people around you that you can trust. This is starting to
sound pretty high stakes. Maybe you should act normal, and find an
excuse to call in some bigger dogs, if you have them handy."

    She sighed and dug in her purse. "Gods... This is going to be a
mess."

    She held up a small object that had a green light on it. After she
sighed again, she flipped a switch and the light went out.

    "Get comfortable. An assault team will be here in less than five
minutes, to secure the area. The Boss is going to love this. So are
the people I brought with me, because I didn't tell them we had this
sort of backup."

    "Sounds like not telling them was a good decision."

    "True. What happened to Oreo?"

    I chuckled. "She's at home with her puppies. Jess is from a
previous litter, and she looked so much like her mother, I decided to
keep her. After I trained her, I swap them without telling people."

    I frowned. "All things considered, I'd appreciate it if you send a
squad to check on Oreo. Got any of the old crew handy so she will let
them get near her?"

    "Kyle is still around. Got promoted to a desk job, so I know he'll
be happy to see some field work. Once the team gets here, I'll have a
secure communications channel so I can explain the situation and send
him wherever he needs to go."

    "Thanks. I hate to sound overly paranoid, but what are the chances
the other people have some sort of deadman arrangement like yours?"

    "Virtually none. One of our cars has been following you with a
spectrum analyzer, and we have one here, too. Assuming I can trust
those people, they haven't detected anything unusual.

    "We've already collected a few of their people, and as far as we
know, it's all 'no contact, no problems' stuff. They're paranoid about
being monitored by suspicious folks like us."

    Before I could say anything there was a series of 'booms' and the
trailer rocked slightly.

    "Jess! Down!"

    Then I grabbed Anne and drug her to the floor.

    We both oofed, but she didn't complain, just rolled away from me
and by the time she was done moving she had an odd looking pistol in
her hand and she was covering the door to the outside.

    I sighed, dug my own gun out, and waited.

    Anne had a smile on her face when I resettled more comfortably.

    "I see you still have the hog leg, and it's still flat black."

    I chuckled. "I still hand load four hundred match rounds every six
months, and test half of them, too."

    I used my free hand to point at what she held. "That's something
new."

    "Fast acting sleep darts. Quick knock down. They want us to have
live bodies we can question, these days. Want my extra?"

    I thought about it. "I'm going to assume that was my rig. Jess and
I could have been in it, so I'm in a pretty lethal mood right now.
Rather not, but it's obviously your call."

    Something zinged through the walls above our heads and we looked
at the holes, then back at each other. I waited her out and she
finally nodded. "You're not officially back on the payroll yet. If
anyone comes in unannounced, shoot to kill."

    She held up her caller. "This will light up again when our people
get here. After that, let me do the shooting unless I give you a
target."

    Shortly after we went silent, her caller lit up and there was the
sound of assault choppers landing, complete with bull horned
instructions, then a couple of shots, followed by silence.

    A few minutes later there was a knock in the door, and a voice I
recognized spoke calmly.

    "Party is over folks, you can come out and be proper hosts while
the mess gets cleaned up."

    I spared a glare for Anne. "I thought you said Kyle was promoted
to a desk job?"

    She grinned. "Field Commander. He uses a real lap desk instead of
one of those aviator pads, these days."

    I snorted. "So how's he going to check on Oreo and her puppies?"

    "How else? He'll grab a fresh crew and make an assault drop on
your house."

    I sighed again, then raised my voice. "You didn't do it, Kyle, so
as long as you're the first person though the door, I won't pull the
trigger. Oh, and thanks for the rescue. Let's call it even, finally."

    "Anne? You didn't?"

    "Nope. He's got the hog leg, and it's pointed at where he thinks
you might be standing. I haven't told him he shouldn't shoot to kill,
either."

    "Jeezus, Anne! Call him off!"

    My eyebrows went up. "Call *me* off? Everyone in here has
something pointed at that door. Besides, she's playing with your head.
When this started, I agreed to let her designate my targets once you
folks... Hang on. Stay where you are and answer a couple questions for
me."

    "Sure. I don't mind standing here with an assault rifle off safety
and pointed in the general direction of your rig. Let's talk, since it
will make sure I'm still alive the next time we see each other."

    I laughed. "How'd you screw up and get promoted to a desk?"

    "She told you, huh?"

    "Said you worked at one now, so you showing up here seems a bit
odd."

    "That's Anne. Still shading the truth to get her way."

    I glanced at Anne and she was frowning, so I shook my head
slightly to keep her quiet.

    "Yeah, Kyle. I guess she does. Thanks."

    I sighed, took a deep breath and shifted my point of aim slightly,
then pulled the trigger five times, quickly walking a series of shots
behind where I assumed he was standing. Then, for good measure, I
shifted to the other side of the doorway and walked five shots in the
other direction.

    I waited a few seconds, then spoke calmly. "Second question. Do
you owe me again? Come on in, if you can, Kyle."

    He stepped through the door with his hands apart. "I owe you,
again. Thanks, Jim. Our people have everything else taken care of."

    He sighed. "I think it will be a real desk when this is over."

    I sighed and stood. "How many?

    "Two. They had me bracketed. Our people couldn't do anything
without hitting you folks, too."

    He faced Anne. "You brought them with you, and they ambushed me
when I walked up to this trailer."

    He took the time to study Anne. "Now you know the reason I
vehemently opposed carrying *only* those 'toys' you're so fond of.
They don't shoot through walls."

    She sighed and nodded, conceeding his point, then focused on me.
"How did you spot them? Some sort of old recognition code? Weren't you
taking a chance, shooting blind?"

    I laughed. "Sort of, about the recognition code. It's one you
should have spotted, though. You ever see Kyle panic or get nervous
like that, especially when *I* was holding the gun? As field
commander, he could have called me off, himself, right?"

    Kyle laughed when Anne blushed. "I'm not that careless. No way I
would have expected to be able to stop him, until we'd faced and had a
chance to verify who we are, and we were mutually trustable again.
'Paranoid' was invented for people like Jim."

    He grinned at me and held out his left hand. "Good to know you
haven't lost it, old man. Some folks will add this to your file, and
maybe you'll get a bonus out of it. Oh, Oreo and her puppies are fine.
I picked them up as soon as you hit the road with that trailer.
They're in one of the choppers, and Oreo is having the time of her
life. Wanted to bail out and help. She nearly took her handler with
her, until she managed to grab a seat and brace herself. Looks like
Oreo hasn't gotten lax, either."

    Anne glared at both of us, then relaxed. "What about knowing where
they were?"

    I shook my head. "Follow me and I'll show you."

    We trooped outside, with the vet crew behind us, them I grinned at
Kyle. "Smooth, but it was a good thing I didn't wait too long, or they
might have caught on."

    He shrugged. "We had more control than they thought we did. If
they'd shot any of us, they would have been dead seconds later, and I
wasn't the primary target. You were, and while they seemed to be
suicidal, they were unlikely to suicide without getting to you,
first."

    "Got it. Go stand where you were."

    He did, then I turned to Anne. "If you were going to cover Kyle so
you could kill him, and your rifle was pointed in the direction of my
rig, where would you be standing if you also wanted to have a clean
shot at one of us as we came through that door? Where would your buddy
be, if there were two of you, and you didn't want to shoot each other
if things got intense, as in 'fire fight'?"

    She thought about it, walked over to one of the bodies, then
raised her head and looked in the direction of where my rig was
parked. "I can't believe it's that obvious, once you assume Kyle told
you there was at least one rifle pointed at him."

    I shrugged. "The easiest part was figuring out where he was
standing."

    Both of them stared at me, and Kyle sighed. "Easiest? Granted, I'd
want to be out of any immediate line of fire, and usually do things
from odd positions, but I've seen you successfully double think people
who try that trick. We haven't seen each other since you were asked to
quit."

    I looked around. "Is everyone here on the right need to know
list?"

    "We are."

    "Thanks, Kyle. I wasn't guessing. Jess is just like Oreo, and has
been trained to track whoever is speaking. Her ears told me exactly
where you were. Just to make sure, I asked that question before I
pulled the trigger. She knew, so I did, too. Simple. The twitches told
me that someone else was close by, but speaking too softly for us to
hear them. I had a pretty good idea about them, too, but walked the
shots to be certain I'd hit them at least once each."

    He shook his head. "We never should have let you leave."

    I sighed and finally put my gun away. "I didn't want to. Am I
back?"

    "Do you want to be? Might work better if you're listed as a
civilian consultant."

    "And how would that get me back the security clearances we all
know I'll need?"

    He smiled. "Officially, they were never pulled. You're not
supposed to know that."

    "Your doing?"

    "Anne's. Something about having a handle on you if we ever needed
one, and this business is crazy enough, that someday we might need you
again, and wouldn't it be better if those clearances were kept
updated?"

    I laughed, then sobered and studied Anne long enough she raised
her head slightly, which retriggered my laughter.

    I eventually stopped, and sighed. "I guess there was never any
real point to saying no to your offer, was there?"

    She smiled. "Not really. We're both a little older, but still
alive."

    "Right. Can we talk about the details later?"

    "Of course."

    "Thanks, Love."

    Kyle inhaled sharply. "I missed something. Your records say you're
zoo exclusive."

    "Still am. What's that got to do with getting married?"

    "Uhh..."

    Anne giggled. "The evaluation says he can't get it up enough to
fuck a woman. That's ok with me, because he has hands and a tongue.
They work fine, but somehow that never got into the records."

    I laughed at her. "Nobody asked, so I stayed paranoid and kept
what edges I could, by not volunteering infomation about my sex life.
Everyone got what they wanted. Even you, eventually."

    She blushed, I laughed again, then turned my attention to Kyle.
"I'll make it official. You folks want me back, I'm back all the way.
I'll try to keep myself under control and not get involved in making
this a grudge match, unless I'm told I can."

    "Good. Ok, you're back. Your tractor is fine. The explosions as we
arrived were the tires on the trailer. No flash, just lots of bang. My
expert thinks it was done with compressed air at several thousand psi,
in cyliders on the rims, triggered remotely."

    I sighed. "With good timing along my route, losing all the tires
could have killed me, if the other packages didn't. Lots of overkill,
considering the trailer is supposed to be empty of all the traditional
stuff. Do I get to know what I was smuggling for them?"

    Then I frowned. "Wait a minute. If I dropped the trailer, as
planned, the tires wouldn't have mattered, so why was it booby
trapped?"

    "Insurance. The hijacker is a rival of the ones we've been
tracking. If he'd gotten your rig and the trailer back on the road, he
wouldn't have gotten it up to speed, we think."

    I finally looked at my rig, and the remains of the trailer, then
at all the military type uniforms that had the area secured. "Glad I
don't have to make up a story for the media."

    Kyle laughed. "Oh, no. We have something better. You get to
deliver it, since you are the innocent trucker unknowingly caught in
the middle of all this nastiness. Come on over and reassure Oreo
you're ok, and while you're doing that, you get to hear the lines we
want delivered with a straight face."

    I glared at him. "And how do you plan on explaining Oreo and the
puppies riding in the chopper?"

    He grinned. "That's already been taken care of. We moved to
protect your home and them, as soon as we found out you were being
used. Unfortunately, we got the news too late to pick you up, thus the
emergency check point on the only route you could use."

    I laughed. "Someone expects people to buy that absurd story?"

    "We want to know who doesn't, and what they *do* believe, then do
about it."

    "I get it. Since I'm in the middle already, and the other side
probably knows about my past by now, I can go two ways. Back to work,
or let myself get turned because of my anger at being used as a Trojan
Horse."

    He got another glare. "Nobody who knows my rep would believe I'd
turn."

    "Nope. All we want is you back in harness as one of the best
smugglers in the country, for the good guys."

    "Kyle, in case you've forgotten, I won't turn, but supposedly I
can be blackmailed, because I'm an animal fucker, remember?"

    "Anne knows. The people who make decisions, know. In a few hours,
the world is going to know that you *used* to fuck bitches, but you've
been rehabilitated, and plan on getting married, to Anne, a woman who
has always believed in you, and waited for you. The appropriate noises
will be made by the appropriate people, and you will be declared safe
to be around, again."

    I laughed. "Me, stopping? That's more absurd than me being
turnable."

    "Of course it is. It's what the unwashed masses believe is
possible, though, and that's why people will believe it's happened.
You're going to sell the world the line about Anne being 'the special
woman', who did the impossible, and turned you into a normal human
male."

    I sighed and studied Anne. "I haven't heard you ask me to stop."

    "I took a bath this morning. I'm not part of the unwashed masses."

    "Thanks, Anne. Neither of you has told me what I was smuggling,
that nearly got us killed. Be nice to know at some point."

    Kyle sighed. "What else? Information, and that's all I can tell
you, because you were supposed to deliver it, before we moved in."

    "I see. Let's see... Anne tries to get in my rig unannounced,
because she thinks I have Oreo with me. You, on the other hand, seem
to have gone directly to my house and picked up Oreo and her puppies.
I haven't seen them to confirm that, but it says you, at least,
probably knew I have two bitches that look pretty much alike.

    "At the least, it tells me someone has been keeping pretty close
track of me, right? Don't answer that yet.

    "So what am I faced with? Two people I used to work with and trust
with my life, just as they used to trust me with theirs. I'll forgive
the fact you've been using me. That's part of the job description, and
there's no hard feelings.

    "On the other hand, it sounds like Anne and her people weren't
trusted with some critical information when they were planning this
check point stuff.

    "Tell me something, Kyle, since the operation looks like it's
mostly blown. Did your person in place confirm that what you expected
to be there, was where it was supposed to be?"

    He sighed. "I'm glad you're not working for them, Jim. I knew we
had moles in the system. What we didn't know was how many, which was
the main reason I was camped a few miles away and ready for the call."

    He reached in his pocket and pulled out a handie, then spoke into
it. "Give Oreo a good look in this direction, then turn her loose."

    He pointed. "Watch the middle chopper. If you're quick, you'll see
a black and tan blur launch herself this way."

    Sure enough, Oreo's head appeared, I waved at her and she woofed
happily, then leapt and landed, found her balance, and headed for us
at a run.

    By then Jess had spotted her, and she met her mother about half
way, then followed her in the rest of the way when Oreo ignored her
offer to play.

    Oreo skidded to a stop and looked up expectantly.

    "Hi, girl. Good girl, and I'm glad to see you."

    I patted my chest and her feet landed on it before she licked my
face enthusiastically.

    I rubbed her ears and head with one hand, to distract watchers,
and casually worked my gun out while Oreo's body hid what I was doing,
then I looked at Kyle. "Ok. She enjoyed the ride, like usual. That
solves one problem, maybe. I'll have to gamble that I can still trust
you folks, even though I know you wouldn't hesitate to play this sort
of game to lull me into doing what you want.

    "On the other hand, let's play it safe. Take a good look at my
left hand and what it's holding, then, Anne, you can hand me your new
toy, and any hold outs you're carrying."

    She sighed. "I should have seen that coming. No problem. I can't
blame you for wondering if I can be trusted. I would be, too, under
these conditions. I *would* like to know how come Kyle isn't getting
the same treatment."

    She handed me an impressive collection, then stepped back far
enough she couldn't get to me before I could pull the trigger.

    "Thanks, Anne."

    I knelt and set most of her stuff at my feet, except for one of
the dart guns. "Can I assume this thing has a safety?"

    "Standard grip safety."

    "Thanks. I think I can remember how one of those works, after all
these years."

    Then I shot Kyle with one of the darts and watched him fall.

    "You're right. It's fast acting."

    I glanced at the vet. "Strip him and check him for any surprises,
like suicide stuff that isn't issue. If I'm wrong, I'll apologize to
him when he wakes up."

    I tossed Anne's dart gun back to her and put my gun away. "Sorry,
Anne. I couldn't think of any other way to take him down without
killing him or putting the rest of us at risk. Call his people off,
while you're at it."

    She sighed, and didn't argue about the chain of command, because
she knew that I knew she was in overall charge, since she'd called
Kyle in.

    The guns that had been pointed at me got put away after she gave
his people whatever signal she was supposed to.

    She studied things before she spoke casually. "I could have been
lying about not knowing about Jess."

    "Were you?"

    "No. I can't prove it."

    "Doesn't matter. Our current problem is on the ground. Deal with
what you did and didn't know, later."

    She sighed. "I agree with that. I'm wondering how Kyle knew, when
I didn't. As far as I knew, there were no orders to do anything at
your house. You weren't under surveilance, as far as I've known, all
these years."

    "Relax. I still live in the same place I did then. There was no
point in moving for no apparent reason. People would have kept a
closer eye on me if I had, right?"

    "Point. I hate to ask, but what made you suspicious, this time?"

    "I remembered something you said, about wanting live bodies, and
then there was Kyle's comment about carrying 'only' those dart guns.
Where did your people get assault rifles to ambush him with?"

    She groaned and took the time to lift the shrouds on the bodies
and study them before she straightened and glared at Kyle's inert
body. "Those aren't any of my people. Kyle lied to us."

    "Ok. Good to know. Kyle has some explaining to do when he wakes
up. By the way, was that getting rehabilitated and married to you
something Kyle pulled out of the air, or was it already planned?"

    "He thinks fast on his feet. News to me and I would have objected
before we got in front of the media. We don't want you out any more
than you already are."

    I sighed. "I can't believe how sloppy he is, now. Did he think I
wouldn't catch that, or was I supposed to, but go along like a good
trooper? One more thing to sort out later."

    She nodded, then looked around and sighed again. "We still have
all these people to deal with, and apologize to before they get sent
on their way, *if* we can justify letting them go this soon. You have
any thoughts about that?"

    "The people I picked the trailer up from were smooth enough I
never suspected anything. As far as I knew, I was doing a friend of a
friend, a favor, and covering my fuel costs instead of dead heading to
my next job. I do that sort of stuff all the time, so I can't say it's
something unusual enough I should have been more suspicious than
usual."

    "Anything else?"

    "Yes. There's no way to know if one of your inspectors collected
this object, then transfered it to one of the other vehicles here, or
kept it and planned on doing something with it later."

    I walked over and looked down at Kyle. "I have one more point to
make, about Kyle."

    "Do I want to hear it?"

    "Probably not, since you were there at the time he made his
promise to me, and until now, I would have said he'd never break a
promise made in front of witnesses."

    "Oh. He said he'd never show up at your house without checking in
first, didn't he?"

    "Yep. And he must have showed up more than once when I wasn't
home. Oreo *never* let anyone she didn't know, handle her, without my
permission, yet she had a handler that wasn't Kyle, just now. Does
that woman know what's going on, or is she a dupe?"

    "She could be one of the old handlers. It's only been about five
years, so most of us are still working in the field. Speaking of
questions, I have one for you. That needle was pretty precisely
embedded. Would whoever helped you load her been able to be that
precise while helping you? Seems strange you'd let someone else pick
her up by the neck, too."

    I thought about it before I answered. "I don't know. Could have
happened before she jumped dowm. There was some petting involved while
she was standing there after she finished."

    She sighed. "If Kyle's been turned, he could have done it at your
house, right? Is that Jess' usual collar?"

    "That's an easy one. It's hers. I use a brown one on her and a
black one on Oreo. I'll conceed the point about the needle. I think
it's safe to assume if Oreo's collar has one, it's not drugged, if she
wanted to join the fun and was held back."

    Anne shook her head. "Maybe not with a knockout. We'll check it,
and her, just to make sure."

    "Thanks. So, you want to tell me why we're trusting each other?
*I* could be lying and working independently. I'm good enough, right?"

    She laughed. "And all this could be a test, too. You only have our
word about what we found on your tractor. Or, you could have put it
there yourself."

    "True. We could play this game for days, so let's cut to the
chase. Do I get to know the reasons you let me do the dirty work of
taking Kyle down for you?"

    She sighed. "Let's take a short walk and let the dogs relax while
we get serious. No ears on us, I promise."

    "You got it. Come on, girls. Escort time."

    We headed for the field and when we were maybe two hundred yards
out, she gestured vaguely. "We're far enough, if you want to let them
free range for awhile."

    I gestured, and the dogs started ranging around us, checking
things out and generally being just dogs while they relaxed together.

    We watched them for a few minutes, then she shook her head and
sighed again.

    "I was wondering if you'd spot that. I suppose I should have had
someone take you down as soon as you shot Kyle, right?"

    I nodded. "Or sooner, if you didn't really want me to deal with
him."

    She laughed. "You caught us by surprise when you made me hand over
my tools. We assumed you'd wave your gun around, and we'd shoot him
ourselves, in the confusion of getting a clear shot at you."

    I joined her laughter. "So. How much of the smuggling story is
true, after all?"

    "All of it. But, there's a problem. We found the memory stick
where we were supposed to. When we read it, we discovered it's a
decoy, so all this gained us nothing. The real one is still out there,
somewhere."

    "I'm not surprised. People I dealt with are damn smooth. I wasn't
looking, but from what I remember, I wouldn't have been able to spot
them even if I had suspected them."

    "Thanks for that reassurance. "Yes, Kyle was under suspicion. Has
been for a couple years, which is one reason he was given that 'desk
job', and been watched closely. How he managed to evade us long enough
to get to your house and do whatever he's done there, is something
we'll ask him about."

    "The people in the choppers are yours, not his? They should have
taken me down as soon as I tried to make my move on you. I gave them a
clear enough chance."

    "They're mine. Hand picked, and people I've worked with for years.
The check point crew was a pickup one, and we let Kyle put some of his
people on it. Had to, to make it look like a normal operation. That
does create another problem, since none of them have been working long
enough that they would know Oreo."

    "Makes sense. That pretty much confirms that Kyle has been working
Oreo on the side, with at least one other handler. Still leaves me
with a problem, though. I'm feeling pretty burned and like I can't
trust anyone."

    She nodded. "As I recall, you were retired from active service,
not fired for conduct unbecoming."

    "Good memory. Things got pretty intense during that particular
phase of the disciplinary hearing."

    She smiled. "Quit hedging, Jim. We both know what has to be done
to settle the issue before we can solve our other problems."

    "Sorry, Anne. To make it more palatable for both of us, we can
discuss those marriage plans while we wait, if that's ok with you."

    "It's fine."

    "Thanks. I'll dig my cell phone out of my pocket, so don't over
react."

    She laughed, and watched calmly while I put it on speaker phone
and entered the number I needed to call.

    When it answered with silence I sighed and spoke clearly. "This is
Smuggler One. Code Blue, my current location. I have Anne with me, and
we're about two hundred yards southwest of the nearest people. Are she
and I on the same security list with regards to her current
operation?"

    "Good to hear from you S-One. That's affirmitive on the wedding.
Whisper in each other's ears all you want. Two squads are in transit,
to pick up the pieces.  Keep the body count down, ok?"

    I laughed. "Thanks, from both of us. Only two bodies and two
sleepers, that I know of, so far. How long?"

    "Fifteen minutes, tops."

    "We'll take a break at this location, until somone comes looking
for us."

    "Noted."

    He ended the call and I closed my phone before I looked at Anne
and smiled. "I'm pretty sure I know where the missing memory is."

    "Do I get to know?"

    "Not yet. What you don't know, you can't be made to tell."

    "Glad to hear it. When do I get to know?"

    "When the Boss shows up, of course."

    "You sure he will?"

    "Of course. 'Code Blue' is my way of saying I need to have a face
to face, not just a mess cleaned up."

    She nodded. "I didn't know it was possible to get him direct like
that. Your number must be different than mine."

    I shook my head. "Same one everyone above a certain level gets.
Active caller id that routes the call depending on the number called
from. That's need to know, and I imagine he's already added your
number to the short list that has direct access in an emergency."

    "Because we're getting married?"

    "Maybe. He might have done it as soon as he knew I was going to be
involved."

    "That conversation was too casual, Jim. The two of you have been
keeping in touch, somehow."

    "You got it. Drops once a month and face to face twice a year,
during his vacations."

    "I've rotated through as part of his security screen during a few
of those vacations. Never spotted you."

    I grinned. "You weren't supposed to. Smugglers who get noticed,
don't last long. You need to do something about what you eat at truck
stops. Someone who tracks you could spike your meal, since it's the
same thing every time. If it was me, I'd spike the condiments, since
you prefer the hottest salsa available."

    "You already knew I like things hot. Doesn't mean you were there
to see me get my food."

    "Oh, I was there. You really need to pay more attention to the
servers and bussboys as more than potential security problems."

    She sighed. "I'll remember that. You must have called in some
favors, to be able to work under cover."

    "No. Several of the chains use me as a roving quality control
inspector. It's something I do as part of my normal travels. Sometimes
I eat, sometimes I serve and ask people what they think of the food
and service."

    "So it's all routine, and if they're asked, people don't think to
mention you as an unusual event."

    "Why should they? I'm an employee doing a routine job, not an
intruder looking for problems to get people in trouble."

    She smiled. "Enough dodging. Let's talk about us."

    "I've missed you, Anne."

    "Good start. I've missed you, too. Not the body counts and
followup paperwork, though."

    We both grinned at each other.

    "I'll be honest. I don't miss the body counts and paperwork,
either. Been nice to remove only bugs that I've collected while I was
moving instead of parked, too. Which reminds me. There was no need for
surveilance, because of the GPS tracking. The rig and I are always
near each other."

    "At least that hasn't changed."

    She managed to surprise me. "I'm thinking about retiring. Have
been for a couple years."

    "Boss know?"

    "Of course."

    "What happens to those plans, if I go back to work as a smuggler?"

    "We do the media dance, you're going to have to quit, aren't you?
Too visible and people will be keeping an eye on you?"

    Oreo alerted, and faced south while looking at the sky.

    "Hang on. Company coming."

    "How?... Oh. Oreo and her obsession with chopper rides."

    Three military choppers and a civilian one came into view. The
military ones kept going while the civilian one checked us out, then
landed.

    A grey haired older man got out, and limped in our direction.

    He ignored my outstretched hand, and studied Anne before he
sighed. "Not your fault, Anne, so relax. You might hear about too many
innocent civilians getting caught up in your check point when things
blew up on you, but it won't be from me. As far as I'm concerned,
you've earned a commendation for not losing any of them as incidental
casualties."

    "Thanks. Am I getting a paid vacation to keep me out of trouble,
while the investigation is in progress?"

    "Of course. Spend part of it getting married, and then in bed with
your husband. Make sure it's a large bed, since there will be four of
you in it."

    She blushed and nodded.

    He laughed, and turned to me.

    We shook hands. "Good to see you again, Jim. Anne know I've been
keeping track of you?"

    "Yes."

    "You know what all of this was about?"

    "Not completely. Somebody was using me to smuggle a memory stick,
but it wasn't the one they found on the rig somewhere."

    "Looks like a trailer got destroyed somehow. Yours?"

    He looked down suddenly. "Hello, Oreo, Jess. You'll have to wait
your turns."

    They both sneezed at him, then settled on their haunches in front
of him. He laughed and touched their heads. "Ok. But this is it right
now."

    He petted them a few times each, then looked at me. "As I was
saying..."

    "Yes, the trailer is mine. Kyle said his expert thought it was
compressed air 'bombs' in the tires, since there were no flashes, just
bangs. I thought it was convenient, how it happened just as he
arrived."

    "That will be looked into, of course. I don't see him with you. Is
he one of the bodies, or a sleeper?"

    Anne laughed. "Sleeper. Jim used Oreo to distract us while he got
the drop on me and took my toys away from me, then he shot Kyle with a
dart."

    "The other sleeper?"

    She sighed. "I don't know. Supposedly, he tried to hijack Tim's
rig, but there are some holes in the story I heard before things got
out of hand. I haven't had time to find out what really happened."

    He sighed. "Don't worry about it. My people will sort things out,
and I promise you two will see the unedited report shortly after it
lands on my desk."

    She nodded. "Thanks. Be nice to know what I did wrong, this time."

    "You didn't do it wrong. I did, I think. Hindsight says I probably
should have told you and Jim what was really going on. Speaking of
that, my flight crew has been in contact with the other flight crews,
and the puppies are a little shaken from the new experience, but
otherwise fine. Once things settle, the vet will check the puppies and
Oreo for surprises. They don't think there will be any, but let's make
sure."

    I nodded. "Thanks for reminding me. Oreo! Heel!"

    She did and I removed her collar, then examined it carefully.

    When I was done I turned to glare in the direction of the check
point. "Boss, you'd better make a special effort to get Kyle out of
there before I go back, because he's a dead man if I see him again."

    I flexed the collar and held it so they could see what was
exposed. "I'd appreciate it if you tell your people to remove the
puppy collars, immediately. Jess had the same thing in hers, and it
had a sleep agent on the needle."

    He sighed. "Do it, Anne."

    He watched her use her radio to give the orders, then turned to
me. "There's a team going over your house and property, looking for
surprises. As for Kyle, there's a field interrogation team with me.
You two are going to act very shocked when you learn that Kyle has
been darted one too many times, and his body had an adverse reaction
to the narcotic we use on the darts. My people did their best, of
course, but it wasn't enough to save him."

    I lost my glare and sighed. "He'll live long enough to tell your
people everything he knows?"

    "He'll live as long as I say he should live."

    "Sorry, Boss. Thinking more with my heart than my head."

    "Forgiven. Any man I consider worth knowing, would be doing that
when his wives and children have been threatened."

    "Thanks for understanding. I'll try not to jog your elbow too
often."

    "Appreciate that. Back to business. It wasn't just a memory stick.
It was taken from a deep cover research project, and it has the code
for a new high security communications system. Our own people haven't
cracked it yet, so you can understand why we don't want it to get away
from us. We'll fine tooth your rig, of course, so we'll see that you
get a replacement."

    Anne interrupted before I could say anything. "Jim told me he
might know where the stick is. Refused to tell me until you showed
up."

    He nodded., then waited for me.

    "Yeah. First, though, can it be duplicated? If so, there's no
point to this nonsense we just survived, unless it's an elaborate
distraction."

    "Physically, yes, it can be duplicated, but it takes a special
system to get to the data that's important, so it can be duplicated.
As far as we know, we're not missing any of the special hardware."

    "Got it."

    I pulled my wallet out and dug briefly, then handed him what I
removed. "This what you lost?"

    He looked it over, then dug out an eye loupe to check something.
"Could be. Serial number matches the one I have memorized. Can't be
sure until it's tested."

    Anne must have done something because he turned slightly. "You
have something to say?"

    "I missed something, somewhere. If none of the special hardware is
missing, how was my tech able to determine the one we checked isn't
the right one, since, according to them, it looked right, but didn't
have the right data on it?"

    "They checked it?"

    "They told me they did."

    He thought about it, then looked in the direction of the activity.
"I don't like the implications. We'll look into that, too."

    He pocketed the memory stick just as casually as I'd handed it to
him, then he smiled at me. "How did you wind up with it?"

    I shrugged. "About as casually as you just did. When we were
dealing with the paperwork and I was getting my directions, the
shipper casually handed it to me and asked if I'd do them the favor of
delivering the end of month backup to the accountants at their head
office. Since I had a bunch of other paperwork going to the same
place, and it's routine to courier hard copy data if a rig is making
other deliveries to the same location, I agreed to do it. It was after
I got in the cab and was waiting for the rig to warm up, that I moved
it from the envelope to my wallet. I figured I'd be making a fuel stop
to top off, and even with Jess in the cab, if someone wanted it bad
enough, they could knock her out and get it."

    He smiled. "So a switch nobody but you knew about. I wonder if
they were counting on that?"

    "I don't have a clue, but it's a possibility if Kyle was working
closely with them. He'd ridden with me often enough to know my
habits."

    "Right. We'll ask him about that, and a lot of other discrepencies
in his more recent reports. Been filling the bucket, and today's
escapade is just the excuse I needed to empty it in his lap and ask
for some explanations." 
=====

End: Rigged Games

-- 
Pursuant to the Berne Convention, this work is copyright with all rights
reserved by its author unless explicitly indicated.
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| alt.sex.stories.moderated ------ send stories to: <ckought69@hotmail.com>|
| FAQ: <http://assm.asstr-mirror.org/faq.html> Moderators: <story-ckought69@hotmail.com> |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|ASSM Archive at <http://assm.asstr-mirror.org>   Hosted by <http://www.asstr-mirror.org> |
|Discuss this story and others in alt.sex.stories.d; look for subject {ASSD}|
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+