Detskoye Porno - 2. Act II

“Sorry to make you come in on a Saturday morning, guys.”

“Don’t worry about it, Vasili. Having to work kept me away from the chores my other half had lined up for today.”

“Genni! Are you saying you―our pod’s Delta, our big, bad enforcer, our fierce warrior―are already under the thumb of your husband of six months?”

“Fuck you, Neo. Wait until you bite the bullet and get hitched. Life changes when you have to take someone else into account while making decisions. Anyway, what Fer may or may not put me under is none of your business. I happen to like it when he does it, though.”

I had to look away to disguise my smile. Genni and Fer had married at the beginning of the year and were very much in love with each other, everyone could see it. We could also see the younger Fer ran the household with almost military precision, and rumor had it he was also in control in the bedroom. Genni had just confirmed it and he seemed very happy to let the younger man be on top of things, so to speak. As Alpha, I tried to stay informed of domestic matters involving my people, while maintaining a non-interference policy unless the wellbeing of any pod member was threatened. “Okay, boys. Enough of the pleasantries. Let’s get going so we can finish this meeting at a decent hour. Neo, what do you have?”

“Boss, we’re dealing with a very large and much decentralized organization involved in a large number of illegal enterprises. For our purposes, we want to concentrate on those activities related to the sex trade. There are two distinct groups, working in two distinct areas, but cooperating to create an almost seamless operation. They appear to have divided Europe between themselves. There’s no clear pattern on how or why they selected cities and countries.

“Draak, the Dutch dragon I’ve been communicating with at Command Brunssum, arranged for me to review some sensitive though not classified files on the bad guys. We’ve come up with a rough plan which we feel will provide the Dragons their vengeance, hurt the Russians, save some lives, and in the end provide us with some financial resources to share between our people.”

“You have an idea of how many of us will be needed to implement your plan?” That was Genni already thinking ahead to the size of any force he might have to deploy.

“Not many at all. We think a handful of us working with a few dragons will be enough.”

I had myt own questions. “Can you give us an overall picture of their operations to begin with?” I didn’t want to start discussing details when I’d not yet heard what we faced. Litrik and I need to agree to any plans before they are put into motion.”

“Sure thing, boss. I’ll start with the legitimate business behind which all illegal activities are hidden. The two goups jointly own Baltic Ferry Lines. The company owns two older, small ships they operate in the Baltic. There’s a monthly foray into the North Sea for a call at Amsterdam. The majority of passengers come from Scandinavian and Eastern European countries. Mostly middle class, with many being pensioners attracted by the extremely competitive fares. I think they’re not concerned with making a large profit from the sailing operations”

“Neo, do you have profitability figures?”

“Not at this time, Vasili. Baltic is privately owned, does not publish financial statements and I’ve not hacked into any systems yet. The information we have at this time is either entirely public or comes from the NATO files I previously mentioned.”

“Okay, keep going.”

“At least one ship, Tsar of the Seas, appears to be used as a floating movie studio. Boys and girls as young as six, many runaways, are smuggled aboard at whichever port of call is convenient. We have no details yet, but it appears the kids are kept on board for a few weeks. They’re filmed while forced to engage in sexual activities with each other and with adults. I peeked at a movie Draak gave me a link for and nearly puked.

“At some point, the kids are dropped off in a city other than the one they were picked up from and moved to foster homes. These homes are part of the prostitution operations, and the kids are rented to anyone willing to pay. The monthly stop in Amsterdam appears to serve as a drop off point for children destined to cities not on the Baltic. The city is a transit point. Their eventual sale into slavery is suspected but no proof has been found so far.”

“Boss, I don’t care what it takes but I want to take those fuckers down. If we can rid the world of some of this scum I’ll be a happy dolphin.” I could see tears running down Genni’s face as he listened to the atrocities described. When he spoke, his voice trembled. But there was a firm determination in his eyes.

“I think there’s no question we’ll be doing everything we can to hurt those pigs. Neo, what have you and your dragon buddy come up with as a plan?”

“We are suggesting four steps, Vasili. If you give the go ahead, Draak will speak with Litrik. We would start win an aggressive hack into the ferry line and all companies and individuals associated with it. We need detailed intelligence.”

“Approved. Call your dragon, let him know we’re on board, and ask him to get Litrik’s approval. Once the big guy gives the go ahead we’ll meet again. You can fill us in on the rest of your suggestions then. We need the intel to develop a good plan, go!”

“What’s the verdict, Neo?”

“Vasili gave us approval for phase one. Subject to Litrik’s agreement. Once your side is on board, he wants to hear the plan’s details. I don’t foresee a problem. He’s the type of boss who trusts those working for him once they prove themselves. So far, I haven’t screwed up. And you?”

“Litrik’s here. We’re waiting for my cousin, Chama to fly in from Lisbon. I’ll brief them both together. I think we’ll have approval within a couple of hours.”

“You guys are all related, ain’t you? He flying commercial?”

“You funny fish! Yes we are. And what do you think? We get in a plane about as often as you guys get on a boat.”

“Listen fire breather, I ain’t a fish. I’m a mammal. I sucked when I was a calf, and still do now and then. You come visit me sometime this summer and I’ll prove it to you. Wait until you see our yacht―the Atlantis is gorgeous. I’ll reserve it for a few of days. We can take it up to Cape Bretton Island or over to the Bay of Fundy.”

“I’ll hold you to it, stud. Hey, Chama just arrived. I’ll go brief them and get back to you as soon as I get their agreement. If all goes well, we’ll see each other next week.”

“Later, Draak. I’ll wait for your call, mate.”

“Thanks for the large water bottles, Draak. Flying over Western Europe in the daytime is such a pain in the ass. I have to keep my size small enough to not show up on radar, it takes longer to get anywhere, and I can’t even stop at a lake to get a drink for fear some damn bird watcher will snap a picture.”

“We’re all facing the same problem, Chama. I flew to Canada and back mostly in daytime. Had to keep away from the established flight lanes. Since most of the traveling was over the North Atlantic, the chance of detection was minimal.” The development of radar during the twentieth century had created a new dilemma for dragons.

Our height as humans determines our length as dragons following transformation. We can alter our size upwards tenfold, but it requires an extraordinary amount of energy to stretch muscles and bones. The larger our size after shifting, the faster our speed while flying. The risk of detection increases proportionally. Initially we were often categorized as unidentified flying objects, but as radar sophistication increased, the danger did too. The threat of terrorist attacks after the cowardly destruction of the World Trade Center Towers had increase our risks even more. Anything out of the ordinary on a radar screen was now deemed a threat.

“Are we still pursuing the development of stealth biotechnology, Uncle Litrik?”

“The project’s currently on hold, Draak. I’m not sure we want to associate ourselves too closely with the coven we had discussions with initially. Those witches don’t appear to be very trustworthy. We can talk about it another time. Let’s hear what you and this dolphin wunderkind have cooked up.” I had invited Chama to join us; he would be part of any operation we undertook. Selvagem Chamejante Dragão ran one of Portugal’s elite security agencies, and they had done a bit of background check on the dolphins before I approached them. Young Neo, their Chief Technology Officer—current lust generator for Draak—had a sterling reputation as a computer whiz. Within the hacker community, he was regarded as a master under his Finman alias.

“The Dolphins’ Alpha approved Neo’s request to hack into the computer systems of the Russians. Once you give your consent, he plans on digging for a couple of days before we finesse our plan and present it for final approval.”

“What’s the estimated financial cost for the entire operation? And what are the manpower requirements?” Our financial resources were fairly large; we also had access to deposits of precious metals and gemstones if needed.

“If he can locate sufficient financial data, Neo thinks we may be able to divert some of their funds to hidden accounts. It would hurt the Russians, pay for the costs of our operation, and may provide a windfall for the dolphins and dragons to split.”

“You think he can pull that off, Litrik?

“That’s what happened in their recent face-off with the vampires, Chama. The boy stole money, a jet, and a yacht from Prince Tepes. The bonanza was split with the wolves they worked with.”

“Okay, sounds as if the guy knows his stuff. Go ahead cousin, let’s hear about manpower.”

“We think five of them and the three of us would be sufficient, Chama. Maybe one or two of your security company’s guys, and a couple of wolves as pilots to fly the dolphins over here. We’d like to set up a financial sting, and then do a little disruption of the prostitution operations. If the Russians react as we expect, they’ll start fighting amongst themselves. In the confusion, we’ll deal with the Tsar of the Seas and execute any of the top echelon Russians who survive their internal battles.”

“Go ahead and contact Neo. I agree with the proposal, so get started. Chama, grab some food and a nap. We’ll meet again after Draak contacts Canada, and discuss the details the two kids have worked out so far.”