Darlene Gillespie carefully studied the effect her apparent accidental flash of inner thigh and all points north had upon Gordons always telling expression. She was particularly pleased to see he seemed wholeheartedly to approve of her choice of a minuscule white lace thong that barely covered anything whatsoever.  Gordon might have been once considered a handsome man. Before the six-inch gash down his left cheek and the commensurate stitching scars had severely disfigured his features. Even so, for his age, which Darlene estimated at being in the mid-forties, he was in prime condition, a fine muscular physique, always smart and presentable, famously unmarried or attached in any way, and with a salary that she knew was for some reason way above the average for a Home Office employee of his grade. Gordon presented a considerable catch.

The journey she and Joanna were taking this very moment had the possibility of providing some most entertaining illicit experiences, but she made a mental note to soon give Gordon a chance at fulfilling his carnal ambitions.

The mind-blowingly inane reasons for success or failure in the service the state, specifically in the enormous administration necessary to drive and control a modern government to reasonable success and efficiency, has little to do with real ability but a lot to do with an utter lack of ambition and self-interest.  There are ever a few brilliant stars at the tip of the firmament, but the majority of the gathered light comes from an absolute host of lesser bodies suspended almost invisibly in the enjoined skies surrounding. This phalanx of flickering’s supply the daily needs of the multitude, admittedly under the auspices of the high and mighty ones illumination, allowing the scrabbling masses their apparent vistas of possibility and   probability, and to dream vainly of a degree of actual success and authority way beyond their slimmest hopes of fruition.  

The natural shape of affairs is a beehive, with an increased number of royalty, and a commensurate volume of disposable toing and froing insignificant drones and workers inhabiting and servicing the whole space.

Gordon Alexander Farquharson had spent his entire adolescence and early adulthood physically defending the honor of a name he felt little or no connection too.  He had rapidly become a most accomplished fighter, quite without the usual degree of squeamishness often present with the more intellectually gifted of lads. He could most easily administer the most cruel    and unnecessary retribution for the smallest slight upon his ancestry, and was quite renowned near and far just possessing just such a streak of unfettered vengeance.

 His path crossed with Fergus Lothly on one dark rain spattered   night in a shambolic public house inside    the catholic portion of the Glasgow underworld. The argument started quite innocently enough, as such affairs are inclined to do, with a very casual remark about a forthcoming football fixture that was coming the next weekend in the nearby ‘Paradise’. The supposed throwaway line   descended from casual religious insult to blade and bottle flashing life threatening melee in a mere moment.

To paraphrase the immortal Bill Shankly some things are more serious than life and death, religion and football are the two most significant.

There are certain national rivalries that supersede all sensibility for geographic, historical, and social reasonings, the Celtic Rangers divide is the most so the most inflammatory conflict in Scottish mythological   and most vitally actual reality. Gordon and Ferus stood upon the Roman Catholic bank for the river Clyde, their freshly spilled blood sealing an unbreakable brotherhood.

Fergis Lothly was a somewhat unimportant lieutenant at the time of the altercation, but still with sufficient power over the Glasow constabulary and legal system to ensure that Gorden, whom had bravery intercepted a broken bottle aimed at Ferus’s thus far attractive face, was kept out of a cell and any of the possible follow up criminal prosecutions caused by the pairs wanton and most enjoyed displays of extreme physical application.  They were united in their outlandish joy at thuggery and tribal loyalty.

Joanna Geraldine Spivey and Dalene Gillespie were very pleasant and welcome ornaments in the rear of Gorgons plush vehicle. He has quite naturally adjusted his rear-view mirror downwards to an appropriate angle to give a clear view of the two young ladies skirted legs which would hopefully at some stage of this short journey part just enough to give him a clear and thrilling peep at their exposed upper hosiery and under garments.  His predilection by taking such a measure could possibly be seen as perverted, but Gordon preferred to think of this as simply a positive perk of an otherwise tedious occupation. He was also thoroughly certain that Darlene had purposefully flashed him on several previous occasions in this exact scenario.

“Always so happy to see eagle eyed Gordon at the at the wheel in front of me.”

To empathize the offhand remark Miss Gillespie’s knees parted momently, quite wide enough to make Gordons control over the vehicle wobble just momentarily.

“Steady there, cowboy.”

”

Joanna Geraldine Spivey had very good reason for needing to contact sergeant Claudine Millar this afternoon, her boss Lothly was showing severe frustration at the whole quartets insistence on being so evasive after he had fronted then a most spectacular luncheon on of his personal pound. She was also just a little concerned that the possible attractiveness of the most spectacular Atsuko Arimura and Zara Amin could oh so easily turn the head of her recent honey pot. Colonel Ferus Lothly never did anything without a well-reasoned and positive purpose and look as hard as she might Joanna could perceive no blatant intention of this latest piece of prestidigitation on his part, and Fergus was an impossibly   consistently good conjurer.

The most obvious way forward was for Joanna to simply ask Gordon to deposit her at Claudine’s hotel after wok, presenting the sergeant with no possibility of further avoiding a comprehensive conversation, and thereby being able to answer the colonels most insistent demands for current information.

“Colonel, may I utilize the limousine later this evening?”

“Going to check of our hard-to-reach friends?”

“I thought I might.”

Joanna tried very hard to sound casual about the excursion. Sounding too keen about anything when talking to her boss was never a very good idea, He would undoubtably use any such sign of eagerness into an opportunity to make full use of her enthusiasm to his own advantage.

The inclination to ask Dalene Gillespie to accompany her was a matter of both practicality and comfort, pragmatic because the logic of wasting the expense of the limousine and Gordons use for time on a purely solitary trip seemed exorbitant, and cozy because the ability to hold hands and other extremities with her subordinate was ever a most edifying consideration. Darlene of course eagerly said yes, immediately telephoning her male partner of several years to explain a possible absence of several hours, perhaps hopefully from her own fingers crossed perspective overnight, making such a totally believable reasoning that he swallowed the hastily manufactured excuse with his unusual gullibility.

Darlene’s choice of outfit was limited to the several different hangers of clothes she kept ready in the workspace for just such opportunities. There would be time for her to shower and adjust her hair and makes up seductively, choose a set of suitably scandalous lingerie from her well stocked bottom desk drawer alternatives, and titivate the exterior most attractively.

Joanna herself was already wearing something highly appropriate for the night time excursion. Some stroke of genius, or at least bright forethought, had motivated her to adopt her cheeky copy of an adolescent students outfit that day, complete with mock pinafore dress, white shirt style button front blouse, and some very cute black patent Mary Jane dress shoes.

Gordon pulled up with plenty of time to relax prior to departure. He thoroughly enjoyed his road trips with Miss Joanna.

In a not very subtle way Lothly and his conniving MI5 counterpart James were seeking changeability and predictability combined in a most well-balanced team. Interchangeability and reliability overlaid all the members personal whims and fancies, still allowing the manifestation of the passions and deep emotions needed to fulfill the constant requirements of such difficult and exhausting missions as profligate the bizarre worlds of intelligence and counter-intelligence operations.

The four prospective candidates fulfilled the parameters exceptionally, ticked all of the boxes, their sexuality avoiding many of the more irritating issues that arose when utilizing female agents, the feminine gender unquestionably being the best suited for such roles, by virtue of their quickness of wit, inane intelligence, ability to follow orders or adapt as necessary, and patience under the most extreme stress.  

Mist thankfully permission has already been forthcoming from the applicable authorities needed for the quartets inclusion into the new strike force.

It had not gone without notice in the very highest political levels that the quality of response to major crisis’s did not reach the levels of adequacy that should have been expected. The British civil service in the areas of technology, intelligent and balanced speedy oversight had fallen well behind what was required and should naturally be expected in this the twenty-first century, school boyish Victorian cloak and dagger thinking, and tactics were no longer able to match the considerable expertise of the nation’s opponents in a world devoid of any sense of morality, or fair and appropriate levels in responses. The mass murder of innocent civilians was considered a most acceptable activity to simply apply pressure upon the administrative powers that be to implement undemocratic and genuinely unpopular social change.

Such alien force necessitated a powerful countermeasure, and in the persons of Lothly and James good fortune had delivered the right pair to manifest the necessary steps to alleviate the pregnant need.

An unbending body fully capable of such meteoric measures was presently springing forth from the wings of the stage.

The rather obvious attraction between Claudine Millar and Zara Amin was matched, if not fully exceeded by the fierceness of the magnetism that flitted fiercely to and fro betwixt Atsuko Arimura and Inspector Annette Grubber whilst the two sat adjacent to one and other at the well provisioned dining table beneath their blossom laden orange tree in the wineries picturesque dinning grove. The couple were not a pair made in heaven or hell, being apparently emotionally quite repelling, Atsuko with her severe and partitioned, chill and reserved Japanese manner, and Annettes blatantly more open and overpowering London west end style and panache, but as often is the norm, opposites do tend to attract and stick together like those magical designed fasteners that zip together with alacrity and a most firm and no splitable resignation.

The twos dress did on this specific day meld rather magnificently, Atsuko’s suiting choice of orange and lovat mixed of Harris tweed hues, and Annette’s flowing knee length dress, the shade of which was all but indescribable, yet blended most perfectly with anything else.

They started joining hands beneath the tables protective shade quite accidentally when fingers met accidentally and were not hastily withdrawn to a solitary existence. Such casual linking’s can be separated into either the purely lustful or a more serene acceptance of a very natural connection between two otherwise separate souls. This particular adjoining was a more dangerous form entirely, nearing all the hallmarks of outright raw naked lust, and   the more patient and long-lasting amalgamation of a permanent friendship, partnership, felicitation, much like the one that had recently manifested allying Annette and Claudine, The warmth, permanence, unreachability was completely echoed.

The return ride to the refugee center saw three stolen kisses   exchanged, one from each to the other discreetly upon the cheekbone, the third far more daringly, openly, full on by lipstick emblazoned mouths.  Most disturbingly Atsuko’s tongue tip briefly flicked across Annettes moist lips as the momentary embrace separated.

Annette all but soiled her panties with shock.  

Fergus Lothly had instructed Joanna Spivey, his assistant, on three occasions that afternoon to telephone and ask Claudine Millar how exactly the most resplendent luncheon had transpired. Claude was being most difficult to contact, and Fergus’s impatience for an update was growing. To make matter worse Gordon had returned with the limousine some two hours previous, and had already spotlessly polished the vehicles already pristine bodywork when visible to their joint boss from his lounge chair adjacent to the spa’s open air pool. Every ticking second was rousing Ferus’s ire substantially.

From her very knowledgeable perspective Joanna was not terribly surprised by her two amigos inability to be the reached, she was fully aware that they that both had significantly pressing matters on hand and were also entirely capable of being frighteningly vague when large quantities of alcohol were involved, and any lunch at the winery would have necessary supplied quite enough opportunity for getting completely of or partially sozzled.

By her own very high standards Claudine did not feel particularly inebriated, tipsy most definitely, hot and bothered certsinly, but out and out drunk not in the slightest.   The effects of being in close proximity to Zaras most exotic cigarettes, especially in the confines of the limousine, had perhaps delivered some degree of lightheadedness and levity upon her conscience, but these were not a fundamentally unpleasant experiences, and the way Zaras fingers stroked   her hand and wrist quite passionately had decidedly mitigated any negative emotions. The chances of her producing any startling insights that afternoon were unlikely if not impossible, but as the quartet were all definitely inclined towards extreme jollity as they exited Gordon’s chariot, any significant imminent investigative breakthroughs did not seem overly weighty of pressing.

Claudes growing interest if Zara was quite disconcerting for her. Usually she was a women quite capable of making the first move in any circumstances, but exactly how to approach a proud Muslim woman was an a new challenge for her seduction skills.   

Peter Gogan’s concept of equality was somewhat different from the generally held opinion, the construction also having to vary quite considerably depending on location and immediately surrounding peers. His manners, morals, convictions, were neatly sorted at minimum into two completely separate scales, the one for the public, openly viewable, socially acceptable; the other private, religiously motivated and inspired, and only understood and welcomed by a very tight knit group of compatriots..  This twin persona did not cause him the slightest degree of discomfort, he was utterly free of any feeling of error or concern about the extreme conservatism of some of his faiths ways, to the point he preferred stoic silence to ever having to defend or explain exactly why those heartfelt conviction thrived. Most entertainingly his two wives, Priscilla, and Mathilde, were inclined to find him too soft and easily manipulated by foolish emotional weakness, having on many occasions to insist of him delivering well deserved and welcomed punishment to their own and the occasional guests physical and psychological hide.  

The Gogan families success in keeping some of their rather extreme and extraordinary habits private was dependent on their ability in isolating themselves and their more bizarre activities, enterprises, from the eyes and ears of immediate neighbors, who no doubt would have found the plain truth about the abnormalities included in their day-to-day existence bewildering if not outrageously unacceptable.

Revelations concerning the highly insidious nature of any number of the Gogans chosen beliefs, many most directly in conflict with the moral and ethical laws of the British state any citizens overriding sensibilities, Peter would immediately and unavoidably lose his chosen profession and most likely his physical freedom, to be superseded by long term incarceration and overwhelming social disgust and derision.  Peters wives would suffer quite equal fates through any exposure, possibly even with more vocal condemnation, having willingly, most eagerly, enhanced, cajoled, and amplified the severity of the families debauchery and utter criminality. And being feminine have utterly no acceptable excuse.

Some belated praiseworthiness should be acknowledged for certain residents of St. Peters and the surrounding precepts, particularly the more suspicious members amongst of the local branch of the women’s institute. Such devout and   naturally scrutinizing ladies noted with some apprehension the rather dated and frankly backward manners presented by Prucilla and Mathilde in their everyday dress, vocalizations, particularly towards anyone perceived as being of subservient position, and their absolute refusal to allow any form of social integration with the surrounding population. There were also rather pointed questions and to why two such attractive mature women should as supposed sisters be quite so obviously attuned physically and spiritually to each other, to their numerous younger female visitors, and their accompanying male counterpart.

Add to the many already ripe questions the factor of the Gogan compounds isolation and considerable consistent privatization, the local sisterhoods tongues were wholly inclined to wag indiscriminately,  

It is worthy of note that the predominant bent to the Thanet area was profoundly conservative, with age range more inclined towards retirement than first flush.  The population was largely Caucasian, with a smattering of more wealthy east Indian families thinly indisposed, but an almost complete lack of West Indian or African persons represented whatsoever. The entire area of East Kent was socially and politically an enclave of quintessential Britishness, with all the   expected biases, prejudices, and intolerances.

Even by the very old-fashioned principles of their neighbors the delight with which of the Gogans lapsed back to modes of strictest discipline in public was beyond the general acceptability. The way the compounds young visitors were expected to display abject silence and unquestioning obedience on all occasions was a challenge for many to permit for those so plainly innocent and inexperienced in life.   Mathilde and Pricilla would act as absolute tartars to all the trainee girls on almost any occasion they were ever allowed beyond the strict confines of the homestead.

Lothlys brilliantly planned and superbly Gordon organized luncheon was an absolutely roaring success. The quartet of diverse, independent, and most accomplished women found much common ground and cause in their quite separate but oddly parallel existences. All four were touched with the need to serve the higher good, to expand the influences and import of their gender, but in a most inclusive manner, never detracting from the vital contributions of all other individuals and groupings whatever their genetic and psychological perspectives. They all had in one way or another suffered the belittlement of their abilities from nothing more than a prejudicial viewpoint, and were determined to rise above such insignificant considerations in their own thoughts and actions. To any independent observer the purpose the Colonels clever attempt to ferment the construction of such a so capable squad of socially and politically aware operatives should prove most apparent. Tobias James was totally on board with the concept, even agreeing to share some part of funding.

The short trip back from the winery to the compound proved much more snug than the opposite ride. The fours close adjacency on the back seat caused not the slightest embarrassment or limitation in conversation or individual relaxation. Zara and Atsuko sat on the ends of the leather seat with Claudine and Annette in between. To facilitate as much roominess as plausible all their arms and hands were most fondly interlinked.  A large volume of feelings and intent can be displayed quite easily though held hands, by their comparative compression, and the subtlest digital movement.

Claude and Annette were already intimately be aware of each other, Atsuko and Zara possibly similarly, but from this short but informative limousine squeezing it was evident the established pairings were open to expansion, merging, and cross pollination.

 “I am so happy that you ladies has such a successful and enjoyable luncheon.”

” Oh Gordon, you are such a treasure!’

Annette, followed by the other three in turn, planted a smacker on Gordons right cheek.

With luncheon fast approaching chauffeur Gordon had completed his usual thorough performance by finding and booking a reservation for the meal at a local winery within their most picturesque outdoors eating facility. He has also confirmed that the guest list was to include Claudine and Annette as well as Zara and Atsuko, a most amenable quartet according to Colonel Lothlys own inimitable description.

All four ladies, with a little pleasant squeezing, were able to fit onto the back seat of the limousine, a most amenable and stimulating way to travel.

“Thank you so much for arranging all this Gordon, and of course for including me.”

Annette Grubber was really the most pleasant and openly straightforward of people. Gordon was quickly gaining the upmost respect for her as an individual and professionally. Far too many police persons were inclined to talk down to someone they perceived mere chauffeur, but Annette was ever considering itself, and would never have to beware of the well-used Ruger automatic nesting in the back of his trouser belt. The Colonel kept Gordon on the payroll for a purpose.

The ride to the Winery eatery but barely ten minutes, the last five of which mainly involved a circuitous sightseeing tour about vast fields of sprouting vines. The main building had presumably by its grandeur been a nobleman’s mansion in a previous stage of its no doubt sparking existence. The establishment now functioned as the offices and home base of the Maudling family, the main shareholders in the wine production business. The orangery to the rear served as an open-air restaurant and tastery during the spring and summer months, weather permitting.

The girls exited the tight confines of the back seat and hastily rearranged crumpled and creased clothing.  All the with exception of Zara whose abaya and hijab seemed impervious to anything as wholly unacceptable as the wear and tear of daily interactions.

“I have a knack for avoiding disturbances.”

Zara simply took a small compact from her tiny clutch bag and with some care inspected her eye and lip make up.

“I am such a vain individual, ‘tis my most pressing sin.”

Her simultaneous petite chuckle seemed to suggest the validity of that statement was highly unlikely.

” Please just text me when you are finished with your meal and I will be awaiting to return you back to the compound, just leave to bill for my later attention.”

“Gordon, you are an absolute star.”

“Miss Annette.”

His salute on this occasion had some significant feeling attached to gesture.

The meal fully live up to the sumptuous setting. The sunlight that managed to penetrate the shading boughs of the orange trees was just warm enough to make the occasion wondrously comfortable.  The quartet found conversation easy and liberating, their perspectives, no matter origins, were fundamentally compatible.