Both smiled back at me, and I turned around to watch as Lucy took us to the mall – noticing along the way that there were a couple of cars keeping pace with us, if at a distance.
Once at the mall parking lot, one of the cars pulled up next to us; I saw Lucy start to get nervous, and patted her hand to reassure her. When the window on the other car rolled down, she could see that it was Agent Gallery, and she rolled her window down, too, to hear him say 'We've been kind of holding a parking space for you, so if you'll follow me, we'll be all set.' She nodded her agreement, and stayed with him as he led us to a spot that was fairly close to one of the entrances, and almost directly under one of the lights. I think all of us were surprised when we got out of the car, and saw how many other people were getting out with us – there were a full dozen of them, not including the ones with Agent Gallery.
Lucy looked at me, and asked 'All this for*us*?'
I chuckled, and said 'yeah, all this for you – and the two ragamuffins, of course.'
This time, the girls realized I was teasing, and didn't rise to the bait, opting instead to fairly radiate Dignity at me.
Agent Gallery approached, and said 'We've got a nice mix of agents tonight, so there shouldn't be any problems. Uh, ladies' – Lucy and the girls turned to face him, and he went on 'this is kind of delicate, but don't be worried if someone follows you into the bathroom. At least one of our female agents will be with you all the time, and they'll just be there to make sure no one bothers you, okay?'
Lucy and the girls got surprised looks on their faces, then went through mild embarrassment, before he went on to tell them 'Other than that, there's nothing for you to worry about. We'll be watching out for you from a little ways off, so you don't have to worry about drawing attention, or anything like that. Just go ahead and do what you'd normally do, and everything will be fine. We're here to make sure you're okay, not get in your way or cause you any problems.'
Lucy and both girls nodded at that, then shared a look that plainly said 'I'll believe it when I see it.' Agent Gallery didn't seem offended; only confident in his people.
The girls and Lucy headed for the mall entrance, and I hung back a moment so Agent Gallery could talk to me if he wanted to. I noticed that all but a couple of the people around us began drifting the same general direction as Lucy and the youngsters. I also noticed that they weren't all dressed the same – a couple of the women looked like housewives looking for a bargain, a couple more looked like business women out to expand their wardrobes, and the rest could easily pass as secretaries. The men with them were similarly disguised.
A thought occurred to me, and I asked Agent Gallery 'You've got more inside, don't you?'
He grinned, and said 'Better believe it. We've even got a 'blind' guy wandering around with an explosives- sniffing dog. I don't think even
'Tell me.'
He got surprisingly reticent with me about then, and I reminded him 'Listen, it's ME, remember? I'm the guy that helped pull it together, okay? Remember where we just came from?'
Grudgingly, he said 'We've been after the folks at TechnoDynamics since they started there. We were 'interested' in them even before that, before they all got together. We KNOW they're crooked. We KNOW they're funneling Mob money through TechnoDynamics accounts. We KNOW that some of the money is being used to move drugs, and weapons. We just didn't have anything to use to bust them – until you came along. With even a*little* luck, we're going to take out better than half an entire mob family, and seize nearly a billion dollars – yes, that's billion with a 'B'.'
I gave a silent whistle, and he added 'Believe me, this entire operation is code-word classified. We've had people ready to move on something,
I grinned at him, and said, 'Yeah, I know what you mean. Listen, about everything I came up with is on the laptop I left in your offices. I get hurt, you can still go on – but you damn well make sure nothing happens to them, right?'
He looked at me soberly, and said 'Mr. Andrews, I know what this case means. *I'm* ready to take a bullet for them. So is everyone else around you. Nothing is going to happen to them – or you – if WE have anything to say or do about it.'
He held my gaze, and I finally responded, 'Fair enough, Agent Gallery. We're both after the same thing: put the bad guys away, and keep those ladies alive, healthy, and happy.'
We shook hands, and I headed off to catch up with Lucy and the girls.
The four of us wandered around in the mall for quite some time; stopping every so often so someone could look at something more closely, or make a purchase. I bought a nice digital camera, and a shiny new laptop to replace the one I didn't think I'd get back any time soon. Lucy found herself a nice (!!) teddy, while the girls picked out some pretty flimsy bras and panties. Then the group of us headed over to look over the things in a jewelry store. They all found something interesting to them, but decided not to buy any of it – but when they weren't looking, I gave the cashier my credit card, and bought it for them, hiding the purchases in my bags. I also bought something else that I carried in my pocket.
When the girls headed off for a pit stop, I noticed a couple of women suddenly decide they needed one, too – Lucy saw them, too, and looked at me. I nodded, and she seemed satisfied that Robyn and Sandra were being looked after.
When they got back, neither seemed to have noticed their company; they went on chattering about all the different things that interested them.
We wandered around another hour or so, then decided to head back to the hotel.
Back out in the parking lot, the girls finally noticed our escort. Once in the car, they started talking about it with each other, and finally decided that it was actually 'pretty cool' – when Lucy heard that, she looked at me, and smiled in relief that they were adapting to the situation so well.
As we were heading for our rooms, I signaled Agent Gallery to give me a call on the phone. Back in our rooms, Lucy and the girls huddled in Lucy's room to compare purchases while I went to my room to put mine away. While there, the phone rang, and I answered it to hear Agent Gallery. I told him that I only wanted to let him know that we wouldn't be going out any more that night, and confirm the appointment Lucy and I had for the next morning. He verified both, then made a request. After a brief discussion, I agreed to it, and we both hung up.
With my toys put away, I put the jewelry I'd bought for them in a smaller bag, and went in to watch as they tried on all the stuff they'd bought. Once in Lucy's room, I carefully removed the pistol in it's holster, and set them on a dresser where they'd be out of the way, but still accessible. Lucy and the girls both watched what I did, then studiously ignored it from then on.
First, they all showed off the clothing they'd purchased – an assortment of dresses, blouses, and such that flattered each of them. When they got to the lingerie, I asked if they were going to model it, too. All three looked at me in anticipation, and agreed – then fell into a quiet discussion of who went when before settling it in just a few seconds.
Lucy went first, changing in the bathroom so we'd get the full impact – and it was quite some impact. She'd selected a filmy black teddy that covered everything, but hid nothing – filmy black, the best it managed to do was to cloud over the interesting parts.
Next was Robyn, who opened the bathroom door to reveal herself wearing (well, sort of) a bra and matching panty that were nearly as sheer as her mother's teddy, only in a very pale pink. Her nipples were obvious through the cups of the bra, and the panty _just barely_ covered her pubis while doing precious little to block the view of what was underneath.
Finally, Sandra disappeared, only to open the door to show that she was wearing a bra and panty, as well. But hers were appreciably different from Robyn's.
While Robyn's outfit was still fairly functional, Sandra's made no such promises. It was plainly there for the sole purpose of being removed: the bra cups barely covered her nipples – in fact, her nipples seemed to be the only things that kept them from sliding off her. The panties just barely covered her pubic hair; and looked like they were a faint dusting of color held together with thread. The cleft of her mons was plain underneath.
With all three of them showing off, I pretended to study them for a little bit before muttering 'Hmmmm. Looks real tasty, and all, but there seems to be something missing.'. A bit later, I got an 'I've got an idea!' look on
