Stay Alive

(closed for Ikely)

"Dr. Isabelle Di'Maggio Mr. McCormack is ready to see you now."

Elle turned away from her report and stood up. Her assistant Greg was already standing and waiting for her. She didn't have time to meet with the CFO of Blue Limited Inc.; a mining/drilling company. She was their lead scientist on a project she had been working on ever since her thesis in college. Mars held a mixture of metals that were hard to break, but easily manipulated. These metals once cultivated could start a revolutionary trend in anything that is made with metal. She had studied mars and found that there were 3 huge deposit buildup and if she could prove it there was a patent and she would be a billionaire.

Elle was hired immediately by Blue Limited and had spent over a year getting the gear ready for an expedition to the red planet. Now it seemed everything was ready to go except she needed a team, something she left to the hands of Blue Limited. She was only interested in collecting the metals and getting them back home so she could study them and reproduce them back on Earth.

Elle walked into the boardroom and glanced at the 7 people sitting around a table. She stayed standing. Mr. McCormack blinked and stared at her than at Greg clearly wanting greg to be Mrs. Di'Maggio, but knowing that couldn't be right. "I am Dr. Isabelle Di'Maggio. I know I look young, but gentlemen you have read my thesis and ..." Elle closed her eyes slowly trying not to get annoyed as she looked at the guilty and blank faces. "Okay you're assistants have read my work and produced a summary that spoke of the millions we can make. I understand a project that undergoes a few million upfront with the added bonus of a possibility of getting nothing in return requires a meeting face to face and to answer any questions you have. So here is a brief frequently EXPECTED Questions that I have already produced for you and as you can see at the bottom is the estimated number of how much each one of you will receive in return."

The room was quiet for a moment as the men and 2 women looked over her FEQ. "That's 2.34 million in return."

"Actually I figured it wrong." She saw a few smirks. "I was under the impression that there were 10 benefactors not 7 and as such it should be a little more like..." Elle quickly thought of the numbers. "... 2.62 million in return give or take a few hundred thousand."

She easily read that they were impressed with her. She wasn't just a young attractive girl, but a young attractive girl with the IQ level of a genius. Yes, she was technically classified as a genius with a few small quirks and the obsessive compulsion with her work, but her father Tony Di'Maggio an Italian businessman who instilled family over work in his family had made her as normal as could be. Which meant Elle could burp, curse, and drink with the best of them. Something her southern black mother hated when it came to her daughter. Though she found that these traits helped her when she had to be in charge of adults who were easily 10 - 15 years older than her. Beside no one believed she was 29. They all assumed she was barely legal and cursing and drinking was the best way to break the ice and seem a bit crude and more in charge.

"We have your team ready for you." A paper was slid across the table towards her. Greg stepped forward and took it. He scanned the names committing them to memory as he handed it to Elle. Greg was already getting the dossier on the names together for Elle.

"Good. I trust everything is in order and we leave tomor-" Elle stopped seeing one familiar name. It couldn't be. It just had to be coincidence. The man who's name was on this paper was military and had no business on her trip. Even as she heard the other's voices she was lost in thought. Thinking back to college. She had just turn 18 and was already a junior. She was trying to past for 21 and this man came and saved her. She had given herself to him. He had taken her virginity, unbeknownst to him, and she had fallen in love. As with all college love they went separate ways when their paths parted. She had had other lovers, but none like - a cough from her assistant broke into her reverie. It was their practice silent communication technique to let her know she should know something very important right now. Elle turned to him and he flipped her a piece of paper that read So far 10 out of 10 of the digging crew are criminals on special leave from prison!

"What is this?!" Elle turned to the boardroom yelling. "You are giving me criminals to go to MARS with?!"

"Oh that," said Mr. McCormack. "It has been difficult to find anyone who was willing to take 5 years out of their life to go on this expedition. People have families. People have lives. Criminals don't. For the last 3 months they have been drilled in the fine art of drilling and will be watched by the finest Marshall ever. You just worry about getting those deposits. You will be safe. I promise. You leave tomorrow. Go. Get sleep. It's too late to change anything now anyways."

Elle turned from the room and stalked out. "Which is why he waited so late to give me the damn list of people to come with me. He knew I would do a thorough background and now ..." Elle fumed all the way to the waiting car and got in as Greg went on about some of the criminals backgrounds.

"I don't think you should go Miss Di'Maggio."

"Of course I will Gregory. I know self defense I learned it in college from a ... dear friend. At least no weapons are allowed so I should be relatively safe. Now let's focus on some of the last minute hiccups what are they?" Elle wasn't going to let anything stop her from her trip tomorrow. She had to be at NASA at 6am tomorrow and she was so excited. Aside from the impromptu freeing of choice inmates what else could go wrong?

Character appearance: http://www.all-hd-wallpapers.com/wallpapers/people/328758.jpg

Brent Conway pulled the zipper to his blue jumpsuit up to just below his throat. He then completed a function check to his .40 caliber pistol and holstered it in the thigh rig on his right thigh.

He was going to give the safety briefing for the scientists and engineers on this, the initial flight to the Martian surface.

He had just completed 8 months of specialized space flight training. He had thought the training he had received in the U. S. Army’s Combat Applications Group had been difficult.

It had been a cake walk compared to the training for deep space flight and life on the surface of Mars.

Following his 3rd combat tour in Iran, he had seen the notice for military personnel for the flight. The scope of the work was that he would be deputized as a Federal Marshall and provide essential law enforcement duties. That and he had to maintain the 10 federal prisoners who had opted to work in the mines for 5 years and when the tour was complete their records would be expunged.

The prisoners all varied in the severity of their crimes. He had drug dealers and a child molester. But he also had a serial killer who had murdered 6 women. The man was very intelligent and the doctors said he was near genius IQ.

Only Blue Limited Corporation would even conceive of this idea. They were also the only group that had the lobbyist to convince the government to go along. The government still had a money investment in this government/private company venture. Blue Limited had convinced the government of the benefits of the venture by using the oldest motivator in history, money. The government only requirement was that the company allow the marshals to enforce the laws, and regulations recently passed in congress. Blue Limited agreed and the notice was sent out to active duty military special operations personnel.

Brent had thought it would be cool to go to Mars for a while and get away from the shit on Earth.

It suddenly didn’t look all that cool when he found that he would be babysitting federal prisoners.

Brent would be sequestered with the prisoners, in a sight sound separate section of the transport ship for the 6 month trip out to Mars. Well, it was supposed to be 6 months but the rocket scientists had decided to use the planet Venus as a slingshot for the nuclear powered space ship and shave 2 months off of the flight time. So for 4 months he would be in lock down with the prisoners.

The prisoners were just augmenting the other miners and trying to get out from under federal sentences so Brent did not expect much trouble from them. But the murderer, Raymond Hodges, with his intelligence would have to be watched and monitored closely.

At first, they did not want weapons but Brent had argued long and hard on how incredibly stupid that would be. So he had been given permission for 3 handguns, 1 M-4A4 assault rifle, and one shotgun. In training Brent had to hone his shooting skills even more than what they were. He could not puncture the outside walls of the above ground habitat or a lot of people would die horribly.

The safety briefing would begin shortly and he was going over his notes.

He was going to cover what to do if they saw safety violations or any criminal conduct by anyone.

Brent picked up the sheet with the names of the scientists and engineers attending. It was a mandatory evolution and Brent was going to have to advise corporate of who attended so he was going to have to take role.

Brent quickly scanned the sheet of names. Abbott….Anderson….Butler. He continued down the sheet, Daniels…DiMaggio…Durant.

DiMaggio, Isabelle Dr. PhD.

Holy shit, he thought. No fucking way.

Brent dug out the doctors file. Isabelle DiMaggio, bachelor’s degree from Georgia Tech.

It was her.

In that instant he went back to 2065. Atlanta was rocking. And Brent had fallen head first for one of the most beautiful women he had ever known. In spite of the comments he got from people, Black and White, about their relationship, Brent was hooked on Elle.

Immediately Brent could smell her. The memory came rushing back and washed over him like a tsunami.

The taste of her lips, the sound of her passionate cries during sex, the exotic sight of the contrast of her caramel skin against his White skin, the feel of her hot, soft skin against his body.

Brent closed his eyes and remembered everything. It actually hurt when, as it does, life intervened and sent them on separate life trajectories. That afternoon, when he spoke the last words to her, “Hey, I will get up with you. See ya Elle.” Then she was gone. It still hurt him. He had gone and got into the shower just after he spoke those words and cried.

She had gone on and continued her studies. He had gone and fought.

He had thought of her periodically since then. He would see something and it would remind him of her. He was once watching a Yellow Jacket football game on TV and the camera panned over the crowd and he thought he saw her there, in the stadium.

Now they would be together for the first since then, on the surface of Mars. He would not see her during the trip out due to the sequestration.

Brent headed for the conference room praying he didn’t act all geeky and embarrass himself in front of her.

Should I act like I don’t know her?

Should I greet her and hug her?

Brent had no idea how to handle this.

Fuck it, I’ll do it live, he thought. He turned the knob and entered the room.

Elle didn't attend the safety briefing. She had all the training she had needed weeks ago. If she knew Brent was hosting it she definitely would have made it, but since her assistant left that tid bit out she didn't attend. Instead she was on the phone screaming at some woman who was close to tears about fucking up the inventory of her project. Elle had less than 2 hours before they were leaving and the high powered drill with the air tight seal and battery pack wasn't going to arrive until tomorrow. TOMORROW THEY WOULD BE HALFWAY INTO SPACE! That was unacceptable and at first the bored woman thought she was going to get screamed at and then the customer on the other end of the phone was going to just get over it. She didn't know Elle.

After only 30 minutes Elle knew that girl was packing up her desk and she was getting two managers to go out to the warehouse themselves, get on a jet, and get her her drills. They would barely make the timeline, but she was sparing no expense and every person that failed was getting fired. She was making sure of that. Hell, Elle only expected to be gone for 1 year max. With the drills, the "experts" in drilling, and with her precise knowledge of where the metals was this was supposed to be like taking candy from a baby. Instead she was given criminals that she prayed paid attention or she was going to boot their asses into space herself, it seemed they were going to be given crude digging equipment like axes and pitchforks and if her calculations were correct it might seem they would be out there for 5 years.

"We have another hiccup, Dr. Di'Maggio."

Elle looked at Greg and he handed her a notice that was CC to her and Brent only. She scanned it and then her stomach went cold. She went back to the top and read it. Apparently, the pilot of the ship was not to stay with them for their entire journey. He was going to drop them off and come back in 5 years to retrieve them. If they finished early or had any problems they had a communication device that would radio the towers (of course that radio transmission took approximately 3 days before reaching it's destination). Elle found herself arguing with the higher ups about safety and shit. She suddenly had a fear they would be forgotten.

Too soon she was in the car on her way to Nasa. She went through security clearance and got into her jumpsuit. Watched as the criminals came off a bus and she looked at them with every ounce of authority, power, and boredom that she could. It was only seeing Brent that her eyes widen slightly and she would have went to him, but they were being marched into a room to get ready. She saw him glance at her and she smiled at him and waved. Abruptly he was gone and she felt her heart race seeing him. It was her Brent.

There were supposed to 3 high powered drills. Only 1 made it. The two managers on down the line were fired for not getting her her equipment and she was being led to a port on the ship where she was supposed to get into stasis for the trip. Elle glanced around with excitement. The next thing she would know would be waking up on Mars. She watched as the small glass door closed on her bedside. The travel should take 6 months tops to mars (4 months if they did that venus sling shot thing) during that time while in statis she and the others wouldn't age. Hell upon their return they would technically be 5 years older, but have only aged 4 years. Nothing to get excited about except for Elle she kinda was. 1 year of extended youth...now that could be a multi-billion investment if she could figure out how to make a profit from it.

Brent went into the conference room and immediately began scanning the faces.

She wasn’t there.

Maybe it was a different Isabelle Dimaggio. He called the attendance role and when he got to that name someone in the class spoke up and said that she was working on a major malfunction that had occurred with the cargo necessary for the mission.

Brent grinned.

That was Elle. If someone had screwed up her mission, then there was HELL to pay.
One of the things that had attracted him to Elle was her confidence and her get the job done attitude…that and those gorgeous legs…soft skin…delicious lips.

Brent snapped out of his memory and kicked off the briefing.

It mainly covered the laws passed governing conduct in space. He would be the sole arbiter of guilt or innocence in the event of any criminal activity such as theft, assault, even sexual assault.

Because they would be gone for the next 5 years it was important to maintain order among the crew.

He advised them that their belongings for the expedition would be searched prior to lift off and any violation of the protocols would get them grounded, forever. They would lose their jobs.

He stated that there would be full medical staff on station for any medical situations that may arise.

The habitat they would be staying in was sent late last year and a small team of engineers was on the way to get it up and running. It would be fully operational when they arrived.

The rules and protocols were to take effect the minute they boarded the shuttle for the flight to the moon. The transport vessel was in orbit around the moon and they would dock with the ship then they would be GO for TMI or Trans Mars Injection. Once the injection burn was completed they would all be put into stasis for the duration of the flight to Mars.

Upon entry into orbit around the planet the computers would kick off the stasis module and they would then begin the decent to the surface.

Brent advised that the prisoners would be the last on the surface.

Brent also explained how the prisoners would be handled. Each one had a microchip implanted in the center of their backs that gave their position and direction of travel to the main computer system so they could be tracked at all times. Once on the surface they would not be locked up. They would have their own dorms and would have different eating times in the dining facility. But otherwise were free to roam the habitat.

Brent concluded with anyone who had questions, comments or concerns could contact him for answers.

When the briefing was completed, Brent went and grabbed cold Mt. Dew from the
cafeteria then went to meet the bus with his prisoners on it.

As they filed off the bus Brent turned and saw her.

She was even more beautiful then he remembered.

In college, she had been a stunner. Now, as an adult woman with time and experience, she was just drop dead gorgeous.

Brent tried to see if she had a wedding band.

She had to be married, just had to be.

She smiled and waved at him. He smiled back, then turned and went inside.

The prisoners were all well behaved. They had a chance to have their records cleared and a shot at a new life. The last thing they wanted was to lose that chance. At least that was what Brent used to keep himself calm when surrounded by people who had committed some heinous crimes.

Soon everything was completed.

The shuttle lifted off from the cape and then flew the 4 days to the moon.

The prisoners were transferred to the transport ship first, and then locked into the most aft section of the ship. The 9 digit code to open this section of the ship had been given to the head scientist, whoever he was and would open the section when orbit was reached.

The flight crew had initiated a burn and soon they were travelling at roughly 5 times the speed of a bullet fired from a rifle. Brent heard over the intercom that they were GO for TMI.

With the vessel now in transit Brent put the prisoners in their chambers. Their stasis chambers were initiated and they were off to la-la land at least for the next 4 months.

Brent readied his chamber and stripped down to only his black boxer briefs. He adjusted his heart rate monitor and skin galvanic response meters on his body. He placed 2 on his temples. He placed one on each breast just under the nipple. Next he placed a meter on the inside of his thigh, close to his scrotum. The medical doctors insisted this was important when Brent had registered a complaint.

When everything was in place, he hit an intercom button inside his stasis chamber and advised the flight crew he had all of the prisoner secured and he was about to go lights out.

“Sweet dreams, buddy.” The astronaut replied

I hope so, Brent thought. Then he hit the button and closed his eyes.

He envisioned a naked Isabelle Dimaggio lying on a bed of brilliant white linen…

Elle slowly woke up to a male face she at first didn't register. Her hand slammed against the glass door and the man backed up. Then she remembered and she smiled. "You scared me Erik."

"You scared me," he retorted.

Elle just laughed. "How is everything?"

"Good no problems. We are docked, their's artificial gravity, and the compound is out that way," Erik pointed out a window.

Elle looked and gasped. The compound she had assumed was tiny. This thing was like a city. She could easily fit a small city in this place. How much oxygen was pumping through this city? Hell, how much money did it cost to build this thing? Could this be a vacation resort one day? That would pay billions and even better could do that whole anti-aging thing.

Elle was in a white t-shirt and white boy cut panties. She stretched her legs doing the techniques she was told to work her body and get circulation going again. She thought she was supposed to get sick, but she actually felt fine. Maybe it was because she didn't eat. Though she was warned once she did eat she might regurgitate it back up if this scenario did happen. Something about metabolizing something. She was a scientist not a doctor.

Elle started to leave the room when Erik stopped her asking if she should awaken prisoners that probably hadn't seen women in a long time in a outfit that even he was having a hard time not staring at. Elle glanced down and blushed. She immediately pulled on a black space jumper and left the upper part hanging down behind her as it was zipped half way. She went to the control panel typed in the 18 digit pin that she had memorize and had to make up on the spot. She activated the computer system to wake them up starting with Brent.

She made sure to stand a little ways back as Brent was slowly awoken. She smiled at him as his door swung open and she could talk to him for the first time. "Hello. It's been a long, long time." Her eyes roved over him and she liked what she saw. He was still fit. She did notice he had no ring, but maybe he had taken it off for the stasis. They were warned about jewelry. Elle glanced as some of the others who were beginning to wake up. "Talk to you later," she said as she walked away.

3 hours later Elle had her own quarters set up and was already determining the first spot to begin drilling tomorrow. She was aware everyone was set up in a conference room and was relieved to know that other people were going to be here during the 5 year trip; these people were cooks, cleaning crew, repairmen, medical staff, etc. Again Elle wondered how much was being spent here. Everyone was supposed to be in the conference room by 1500 hours and at exactly 1500 hours Elle walked in and went straight to the front. Brent was already waiting for her.

"Hello everyone. I am Dr. Isabella Di'Maggio." She stressed the separation in her last name." I will be the one running this little gig. I understand we have our heroes, our diggers, who will help us get to what we need and home as soon as possible. I welcome and thank the other staff members for being here. We all have made sacrifices and I know time away from family, friends, and under these strict rules and regulations were a hard decision to make. You all have made the right decisions."

Elle paused briefly. "I have bad news. We only have one high powered drill instead of the 3. This means that we will drill with the high powered one and others will have to use pick axes to get to some of the deposits." She heard groans and her features hardened until everyone was silent. She heard a few complaints, but she only arched her brow as she waited. "We are all adults. Tantrums will not be tolerated. You know your job and I expect it to be done. I'm going to turn the floor over to Sgt. Conway our judge, jury, and executioner." She let that sink in.

"He will be our police. He will give us rules, though we have all received a brochure of what rules we do and do not allow. If he has any he wants to touch up on I advise you listen up. I will also act as Judge and Jury. We do have a jail cell where thieves and other crimes will land you. I do not mean to be harsh and strict, but we are on a timeline. We are here to do a job. There are schedules for a reason and I have posted hours for which people can come to me to talk about anything. We also have a therapist Dr. Rose who is here to handle the pressures of being on Mars. Sgt. Conway will also post hours he is to be available for any problems that may arise."

"You mean a snitch," someone yelled.

Elle scanned the crowd and sighed. "Someone doing wrong will be caught. We have a high powered Surveillance team on site that will monitor everything even public restrooms. Rights have been waived, you all signed contracts," Elle said to growing cries. "You will be caught and if you even had an inkling of wrong doing you will be prosecuted as well. And if it was up to me I would put you in the brigade for the duration of your time here with no hope of getting out until it's time to leave. I do not have time to babysit wrong doing and it will be met with harsh punishment. This is not to scare you just to enforce doing your job so we can all go home. Though, I hardly think we're going to have a problem." Elle smiled.

"The odds of anyone doing anything wrong is so minimal. We have all chosen you for a reason," Elle did not mention the criminals and she found herself looking at them and thinking she was straight out lying to the good folks who were surveyed, evaluated, and found to be so morally upright (without being overboard) that money found was returned in 100% of them. "I honestly think I would go to the brigade before any of you and I'm claustrophobic." It was a small joke and people actually laughed as the tension lighten up. She suddenly seemed younger and free spirited.

"So without further ado. Sgt. Conway." Elle stepped back and gave him a small hug and grazed her lips over his lips and cheek. If anyone saw they would assume it was a mistake on her part, mistiming. She had meant to kiss him if only to feel those lips one more time. If he was married or had a girlfriend this might be the only time she could get this close.

A few keyspeakers later and Elle was in her quarters. Only her, Brent's, her office, Brent's office, and Dr. Rose's Quarters did not have video surveillance. Though, Dr. Rose's office where he spoke to clients did. Elle was unpacking and settling in. She was also very hungry and was staring at the hologram map of the compound and whistled. It was even bigger than she thought. "Just how much DID this place cost?"

Brent’s eyes fluttered then opened.

He had no focus and color vision was returning slowly. His hands were trembling uncontrollably. These were all symptoms of the post stasis induced sleep.

He felt like he had only been out for a few minutes but he had been out for 4 months. Brent laughed at the thought. He knew the truth.

His eyes cleared up and were functioning properly now and the first vision he had was of

Elle DiMaggio smiling at him.

She could easily see that he was naked but for the cotton boxer briefs that were now straining to keep his erection contained. He had to pee real badly.

"Hello. It's been a long, long time."

Brent smiled.

“Too long, Elle. Too fuckin long.”

When she had completed getting them out of stasis she left.

Brent put on the blue flight suit and started doing an inventory of prisoners. Everyone was still with them.

He went to the meeting in the conference room and listened as Elle read everyone the riot act. She commanded the room. Every eye was on her. Brent watched her also but for a different reason.

She was even more beautiful then he remembered.

Then it was his turn to speak to the crew.

"So without further ado. Sgt. Conway."

Elle leaned and hugged him. Her lips grazed his and he felt the familiar feeling he had had in the past.

He stared into her eyes for a moment following the kiss. He hoped he had concealed the total lust for her that was surging through him.

He then leaned towards her right side and whispered, “We need to talk…”

He gave his speech and all the crew and the prisoners appeared to pay attention. His mind was elsewhere.

He wanted to make sure that his procedures did not effect the mission. Watching the prisoners did call for some extraordinary procedures and those procedures should not effect the ultimate purpose for the mission.

Brent would meet with Elle, then begin his interviews with each prisoner personally to get a feel for where their heads were.

It was going to suck but it had to be done.

Now he needed to meet with Elle and he hoped that everything remained all business.

Elle was trying to memorize the way to the nearest cafeteria when she saw a small box on her desk. It was a watch. She tried it on. It was pretty, but it had too many buttons on it. She picked up the manual next to it and glanced at it. It took her a few moments to realize the watch was like a blackberry. It connected with the computers in the compound and gave an accurate map and schedule of your day. Which was pretty cool.

It took Elle 3 hours, but she managed to hack into her watch and up it a notch. Not only could she now see who was where (not by name, but she had black dots for men and red dots for women; the dots showed how many were in a given location), but could access other people's schedule. Something the booklet had said was impossible to accomplish. "Not if you are a Genius with too much time on their hands and might be a control Freak."

Elle's stomach growled and she looked at her watch. The closest cafeteria had too many dots to count, but the one on the otherside of the compound had only a few. "See watch. You're already useful." Elle headed out the door laughing to herself.

She hadn't forgotten about Brent wanting to meet, but she wasn't ready yet. She needed to meet him on neutral ground. She needed to have done something with her hair and maybe a little make up. She had to plan what to say, how to steer the conversation, and what to do once she saw him. Then she had been a kid, but now she was a woman in control. So why was she basically hiding and why couldn't she figure out how to put names to people's dots so she would know where he was or with whom at all times?

Brent went over to the prisoner section of the habitat.

They were milling around, talking and some were playing cards. The voices stopped when he walked in.

Brent went and checked the armory and it was secure. He entered the pass code and went in, locking it behind him.

He strapped on the thigh holster, insuring that the top strap was up high. In the flight suit it almost highlighted his package.

He put a fresh magazine in the weapon, racked the slide, chambering a low velocity round, and then topped the magazine off with another round. He holstered the pistol, and then exited the armory.

He went to his office and pulled the sheet with the names of the prisoners.

He started at the top. He did not follow that all the way. He intentionally waited to see Raymond Hodges last.

Hodges came in and sat when Brent indicated that he should sit.

“Mr. Hodges, I just want to get with you and make sure you understand how this is going to go.”

Hodges had the slightest grin on his face.

Brent went through what was expected and Hodges merely nodded that he understood.

Brent decided to not get into his crimes. He was on Mars now and that was the past.

What Brent knew of the crimes though was that they were horrible in nature and in scope of brutality. Hodges had lured 6 young women to his mountain cabin. There he brutally raped and sodomized them. When he had used them up, he announced that he was going to kill them and gave them 30 minutes to reflect on their lives and how they would have changed it. Then he strangled them to death.

Just thinking about the facts of the case made Brent want to beat the man to within an inch of his life. He didn’t want to kill Hodges, just cripple him.

When he was done, Brent told Hodges and that he was free to return to the habitat. Hodges did not move. He stared at Brent with cold, dead eyes.

Brent turned and returned the stare.

“Hodges, you may think that you can intimidate me by staring at me like you want to do something. But I think we all know you won’t really do anything. You know, as well as I do, that you will not try anything with me because I am not a defenseless college co-ed. I won’t cry and beg for my life. No, I will just cross you the fuck out. I get paid the same whether you live or die, so I really don’t care. Do you want to continue this mad dog act? Go ahead.” Brent said matter-of-factly.

Hodges then smiled, and said, “Marshall, I just have one question. What is going on with you and the lovely Doctor who is running this operation? I saw the way you looked at each other. Do you want to fuck her? Maybe, you already have…I just know there is something between you both and I want to know what it is.”

Brent leaned in to Hodges, getting well into Hodges personal space and said, “Fuck you. The next time you mention her, I will slap the taste out of your mouth. Then you can call your lawyer and file a complaint.”

Brent leaned back and said, “Any other questions, comments or concerns, Mr. Hodges?”

Hodges just got up and never took his eyes off of Brent, then left the office.

Brent picked up the interphone and called the duty operator.
“Can you give the current location of Dr. DiMaggio?”
The operator told Brent where the doctor was currently and Brent left to go meet her. As he was leaving, Hodges said out loud, “Tell the good doctor, I said Hello, and I look forward to seeing her again.” Then he giggled.

Brent said nothing and walked out, deciding the promised slap would come later, when Hodges wasn't expecting it.

Elle had checked and double checked everything. They will leave at 5 am the next morning. Elle had made sure there was a bed placed discreetly in her office. She knew this first night she was going to break in her office bed instead of the bed in her room. She just had too much to do. She had to make sure of the sun and moon placement in where they were going to dig and hell, where they were going to dig and so much.

Elle was almost to her office when one of the diggers approached her. "Mr. Hodges," Elle said cooly.

"I assume you already know about us diggers."

"Yes, I have dossiers on all of you. I know what you did to get into prison and your terms. I just want to say I will ignore all that as long as we can get this project running smoothly."

"I have been reborn and I want you to know I'll help keep the others in line for you Ms. Di'Maggio."

Elle smiled. He said her name accurately and she wanted to believe him. "Thank you." Elle took a step as if to go past him, but he stepped into her path and she looked up at him curiously.

"Well, Mr. Conway isn't of the same mind. It's as if I'm already doomed in his eyes. Can you speak to him? You did say we can come to you with our problems right, Maam."

Elle thought he was so respectful and she looked down at her materials in her arms changing them from one arm to the arm. She missed the almost predatory look he gave her. By the time she looked back up Raymond's face had re-transformed into the pleasant good ol' boy expression. "Of course. I know he can be rough sometimes and I'll make sure he's not too hard on you."

"Thank you so much Ms. Di'Maggio."

"You're welcome. I'll give him a call before we leave tomorrow and talk to him." She smiled and stepped around Raymond going into her office. She walked in the dark going straight to her desk and dropped everything that was in her arms onto the top. She leaned forward and turned on the light only jump and yelp out.

"Dammit Brent. You scared me."

Brent moved through the corridors to the location, he had been told, that Elle was. When he arrived he was told that she had just left.

Brent remembered that Elle had always been a go-getter, always on the move. Things had not changed in 10 years as she was on the move again, getting things done. He imagined that she had all the minute details of this project swirling around in her head as she flew around handling things.

Brent decided he was going to have to be tactical.

He located where her office was.

That was when he heard her talking.

He started around the corner then quickly moved back.

He watched as she spoke to Raymond Hodges. Brent almost broke cover and smashed Hodges face when she tried to get around him and he moved to block her.

He could not hear the conversation but he could clearly see Hodges face and Brent did not like the look. He had the look of a venomous snake about to launch an attack.

When he felt that everything was safe, and that the conversation was coming to an end he went to Elle’s office door. It was unlocked and he moved silently into the dark office.

He sat down in the chair in front of her desk and waited.

Elle had a large amount of material in her arms, and when she dumped all of it on the desk she turned on the light.

"Dammit Brent. You scared me."

Brent studied her for a moment. She was absolutely stunning to look at. She was certainly one of a kind. She could light up a room with just her smile. But Elle had something else, something that Brent doubted even she knew she had. Elle had the ability to give peace and to make you feel comfortable with just her presence. That was her internal beauty, and was one of the things he found so attractive in her.

“Sorry, Elle, I did not mean to scare you.” Brent said softly. She continued to look at him.
“You left your office unlocked. “ Brent gave her his best, “You need to be safer, young lady.” look.

Elle returned to what she was doing when she came in her office.

“I just thought I would give you a briefing on what I did today.”

Brent stood from his seat and began casually walking around the office.

“I have the brig up and running. If anyone gets out of line, we can stow them in there until they calm down.”

The black flight suit she wore accented and highlighted every curve of her body, especially her ass.

“The armory is on line and all of the weapons and ammunition is locked down. No one will be able to get in there without one of your high speed drills and the correct amount of C-4 explosive.”

Grinning he added, “I may even give you the combination to the lock.” The weapons armory had G6 laser lock and a laser matrix field. Even if someone managed to get the door open they would have to cross the laser matrix field without breaking the laser stream. If they set off the laser matrix, the entire compartment would lock down with steel bars and an audible alarm would sound.

Brent caught the swell of her breasts in the flight suit. The lamp from the desk cast a very nice shadow on her chest. Brent again felt the swell between his legs.

It had been so long since they held each other. He remembered the feel of her naked body against his.

Brent moved to end of the desk. She had her right side to him. Her dazzling eyes looking in to his.

Brent, for an instant, felt like she was having the feelings again as well. He stepped closer to her. Her soft, pink lips appeared to part slightly. He saw her tongue behind her pearly, white teeth.

Brent was now a heartbeat away from grabbing her face and kissing her deeply, passionately.

But he did not.

His professional mind kicked in and he stepped back.

“Elle, listen. I really need a favor from you. I need you to stay away from Hodges. The man is a predator. Those urges to kill have not gone away from him. I interviewed him and I saw it in his eyes, he will kill again if the opportunity presents itself.” Brent paused to let that sink in, and then said “And he has picked up on you. He is watching you. I told him to find something else to focus his attention on, but he is still Raymond Hodges.”

Brent prayed she listened. He also vowed to be all up in Hodges face. For the next 5 years Hodges would have to deal with Brent.

Elle sat on the corner of her desk as she watched Brent pace her floor and tell her about his day. She locked away every bit of information putting a mental check mark next to items on the list. She was glad the brig was up and still thought having an armory was stupid. They didn't need weapons here, but like all men they wanted some sort of explosive device and had over ruled her. She didn't want the code, but knew it would be beneficial if she did have; just in case.

Elle was about to open her mouth when Brent gave her that look. She felt her stomach do a flip and her heart beat wildly. It was THAT look. The one that always had her weak and unable to concentrate. Sure, she usually managed to pull through, but it was like walking through quicksand when he looked at her like that. Besides she hadn't seen Brent in years and her body remembered how good he felt. She just wanted another touch, another caress, the kiss earlier hadn't been nearly enough. She did note he still had not put on a wedding ring.

Elle was going to ask him about his marital status, but he started talking about Raymond Hodges and her mind did a whirl. How did he ... "How do you know I have spoken to Mr. Hodges? Our conversation is confidential. Though I am glad you brought him up. He said he had done the crime and served his time. Meaning ease on him Mister. Give him the benefit of the doubt okay?"

Elle brushed off Brent's words about Ray being focused on her. He wasn't focused. He had just needed someone to talk to about Brent being prejudiced against him and his criminal record. "Besides I still know the self defense techniques you taught me in college. I've even used them once or twice." She sashayed up to Brent getting close enough to him that her hard nipples caressed his chest. "I've noticed that you're not wearing a wedding ring. Is there a girlfriend or fiance' back home?"

"How do you know I have spoken to Mr. Hodges? Our conversation is confidential. Though I am glad you brought him up. He said he had done the crime and served his time. Meaning ease on him Mister. Give him the benefit of the doubt okay?"

“I will tell you how I know. After I interviewed him, I knew what he is. He is a predator and he is on the hunt, and there is no doubt, he is eyeing you. I was looking for you and found him instead. I watched he approach you. I watched you talk to him. Elle, you better be careful.”

Brent got a hint of Elle’s scent.

The memories came flooding back to him. He clenched his jaw, trying to fight the feelings that were now coursing through his body.

Then she moved closer. It was almost like she was not walking, but floating over to him.

He felt the nipples on his chest.

"I've noticed that you're not wearing a wedding ring. Is there a girlfriend or fiancé back home?"

His crotch began to thicken as he felt her body heat radiating out.

“No, Elle, I do not. Most women cannot deal with having a man who is gone all the time and them not knowing when or even if he is going to come home. There are very few women…very few, who can put up with that.” He whispered

He looked down and in to her beautiful brown eyes.

Without thinking, he reached up with his right hand and caressed her cheek with his fingertips.

“What are you doing!!” his mind screamed at him

His gaze then drifted to her full, throbbing lips. He leaned his head down, preparing to kiss them, his left arm bringing her closer to his body.

Oh shit…ran through his mind. He could get into so much trouble.

With his lips a nanometer from hers, he pulled up and away from her.

“I am sorry Elle, I was out of line. It won’t happen again.”

He turned away from her and his right hand dropped down to rest on the grip of his pistol.

I am so fired, he thought.

Elle watched his eyes flickering with emotion. She knew his lifestyle and she knew that those women were complete idiots. She would die to have Brent back in her life. Worse, she knew exactly how he felt. Men couldn't handle her high profile job. The few that did didn't like she pulled all nighters or all weekers, as she liked to call them, didn't make dinner at home or stay up waiting on them. She had been called a cold hearted bitch more times than she liked to count and that she was a work-aholic. She just needed time, space, and someone who knew that when she was home she was home, but could handle her being gone for a few weeks out of the month.

"I could. Plus I would acquire contacts to ensure you were safe without messing up your various missions," she whispered so low she wasn't sure he heard her. She wasn't sure she spoken outloud as his hand caressed her and then she was steeled to him. Her breath hitch, her heart raced, her stomach did flip flops, and then he back up.

FUCK!

Elle sighed and took a deep breath. She watched him thinking he just really wasn't that interested in her and had let the past catch up, but seeing him she saw he was (literally his cock was huge), and that he was conflicted about something else. Did he think she was married or with someone?

Elle touched his arm getting him to look at her. "Brent I'm not engage or with anyone. I'm single and I want this. If just for a little bit. I know it'll be complicated with you working for the company and I'm a contractor, but let's not focus on this becoming a big relationship. Let's just ... see what happens."

Elle had to stand on tip toe to reach him, but her lips were inching towards him slowly asking for permission. He would have to separate the space between them or leave her office. It was his choice and she hoped he chose the former.