-7 Months Later-
The sound of someone quickly approaching echoed in the cavernous basement of what appeared to be a quiet country estate from the outside.
“You’re late, Fenn. I’ve got other things to do besides show you through your gear.”
The red panda moved the magnifying lens out of the way, apparently satisfied with the fine-tuning he had just finished on the small black box in his hand.
“You know I appreciate the tutorial. There’s always something that comes in handy later. What’s that you’re tinkering with?”
“It might be some of my best work yet. The glasses that girl brought in some time back gave me a few ideas. Clumsy stuff from an engineering standpoint, but you can’t fault the Soviets for not being inventive.”
He stood the new equipment on its slim edge, displaying the silvery-gray buttons on its side and Lucite window set into the front panel.
“A cassette player? That could help kill some time on the next flight.” Fenn smiled in feigned naïveté as the red panda bristled visibly.
“If only that would save some poor stewardess the trouble. Now keep quiet and pay attention. Hold the play and pause buttons for 3 seconds to charge, then you’ll have up to 60 seconds to deliver a low amperage stun with it. Needs direct contact, but it’ll get someone off your back in a tight spot. Lift the battery cover to reveal 4 of our miniature gas grenades. You know the older model, but these can fill a small room in 15 seconds.”
The fennec pressed the play button only to hear the Debussy tape play clearly through the built-in speakers.
“Of course that works. As for the rest, usual modifications to the car and this.” The armorer lifted the lid on a box made of polished rosewood to reveal a pistol laid-out carefully, freshly serviced.
“Modified Beretta M1934, despite all informed recommendations to accept issue of something more reliable. You know the loads, vaporized chemical agent with a range of 2 meters for knockout. And if you don’t thank Jenny on the way out, I’ll give it another test fire myself. Poor girl’s been dazed for days while working on the new spray you requested.”
Fenn lifted the weapon from its cushion, placing it again in the holster kept at the small of his back. “I’ll stop by on my way out. See you soon.”
“Both I and Her Majesty’s Government would consider it a personal favor if you bring these back in one piece.”
The brief visit with the woozy rabbit-girl brightened things before he found the dossier waiting for him. He quickly studied and stowed it under the seat to listen to the XJ-S’s motor draw in air for a moment before roaring to life. As the country-side estate receded in the mirror, he considered what to pack for his first stop after Heathrow.
A scorching heat greeted his arrival in Soweto a day later, where the sun burned even through the aluminum skin of the Pan Am and a charmed vixen stewardess smiled particularly longingly at his deplaning. The vapor rising in blurred waves off the tarmac as he walked down the stairway made him regret even the lighter choice of a summer suit.
A change of clothes at the hotel to fit in a little better with other British tourists on safari gave Fenn a chance to open the sealed envelope describing his South African contact and recommending he try his luck at the ranger station on the savanna. The report stamped “Eyes Only” was sent from her station and went into detail on the construction that had been carried out over the last year, a guarded complex in development by the Panthera Corporation.
The fennec leafed through the papers, finishing the last of the ice and bottled water brought up to his room. It was a thin thread of suspicions, but after the Marseilles business, it was more than likely intended to be leave disguised as mission. He reached for the Beretta, checking the magazine and aerosol pellets. Milk run or not, things should be ready for the worst, he thought as he reached for the phone.
The Rover slowed and turned onto the packed dirt road that led into the natural preserve. Taking this route, he could avoid the watch station and make certain not to blow his contact’s cover. Abandoning the truck there, he grabbed his bag from the back before going ahead on foot. The gnarled tree in the distance was marked on his map as the point for their rendezvous. Grass rustled behind him and he threw himself to the ground as a dart whistled over-head.
The tall grass would hide him for a moment, but he could only go deeper into the preserve or back to the Land Rover, and whoever was firing would be sure to hit him sprinting back.
A cold prodding in his side made the decision for him as the fennec found the long barrel of a Howa rifle against him. The cheetahess holding it wore the green uniform of a Soweto game warden.
“I saw your bakkie an hour ago. Get up.” The quick poke in the ribs suggested he wouldn’t like the alternative. Fenn got to his feet slowly.
“You’ve got a funny way of reporting in. Weren’t we supposed to meet by the tree?”
The anger in her clear brown eyes vanished in an instant as she realized who she’d just missed. “Oh God, I thought you were sneaking around here after the diamonds like the rest of them!”
“No harm done, Game Warden Beneveld.” The fennec dusted the red dirt off the shoulder of his safari jacket, offering a small grin.
“Miranda, please. I’m glad you’re here. There’s trouble stirring at that compound. Eish, only took them near a month to send you, though.”
The cheetahess lowered the rifle, grabbing the pair of binoculars from the pouch at her hip.
“Take a look for yourself. North-east corner, they’ve been building closer and closer to the preserve.”
“You think this is all for some diamonds?” The geodesic structures rose and fell on the savanna horizon, with no hint of their purpose. It was open land all around until reaching the limit of the park trails.
“Black diamonds. They found them after making the preserve protected lands, but we still get skelm trespassing to dig for stones.”
A few gems couldn’t possibly justify the expense of slow encroachment on the nature preserve. There had to be more at stake than colored diamonds.
“We need to get in there. I’ll see you at my hotel when your watch is over. Something in the dossier might be helpful.”
The fennec made his way back down the trail to the Rover, hotter than ever and certain the Panthera Corporation was behind more than poached gem-stones.
Regina Panthera was brilliant, resourceful and more than adept at manipulation, according to the file in Fenn’s hands. She began with a small practice that catered relationship counseling to high-powered couples. A unique approach brought agreement and affection back to a number of celebrity pairings, and her boutique services had flourished well beyond Palm Springs and Wall Street. The fennec read through security checks run on MPs who had made special trips for her helpful perspective, even a presidential candidate in America who had made time to see the pantheress before returning to his campaign.
Whatever influence she had on the intimate lives of the well-heeled and powerful, her own personal fortune had been invested wisely enough to make her one of them. A number of companies selling everything from Panthera Principles-inspired holiday packages to her series of self-help books and cassettes had diversified into other concerns, including development.
Rumors had swirled around a wellness center she had dedicated nearly a million rand to constructing. For now, only select clients were being invited to tour the facilities.
“She must be using the diamonds to fund some of this project. I’ve already put in a call to Century House. They found someone willing to introduce us as a couple who need relationship help and are willing to pay generously for it. We’re to expect a car there shortly.”
Miranda had cleaned-up nicely for the tour, looking striking in a red, shoulderless dress that cut swept across the swell of her chest. Her long legs accentuated the ruffled bottom edge to her evening-wear, a fashionable addition to her elegant outfit. Fenn straightened his tie as he glanced at the classical curve of her body, reminded of just how good a shot she was supposed to be with that rifle and decided it was best to keep things professional.
The front desk rang their room a moment later, giving them notice of a black Rover and the supplied chauffeur waiting for them. The cheetahess and fennec made their way down, finding the vehicle’s windows too tinted to see who would be driving them. There was a similarly smoky glass partition inside between the passengers and control of the car. Miranda glanced at Fenn, familiar with a trap when she saw one. He nodded, already wondering the same. The car left the hotel’s parking before more guesses could be made and they quickly turned onto the packed dirt roads leading back to the preserve, and the compound close to bordering it.
Journeying past the gates that marked the beginning of the Panthera Corporation grounds was only the first step. On their arrival, they produced the gold passes issued to “Mr and Mrs Henry Daggenbottom, FRS”. The Siamese cat who reviewed their entry smiled and promised an exclusive get-away catering to the elite.
“I understand this is your first visit. I hope you’ll enjoy all of the services available. It’s nothing short of life-changing.”
The polished Siamese wasn’t the only woman catching Fenn’s attention. Since entering the compound, they were surrounded by red panda-girls suited up in black latex. Most stood watch in front of what seemed like more sensitive areas of the Panthera development. All of them had a sleepy quality to their posture and walk, yet seemed ready to spring into action in a moment. The fennec sniffed softly, recognizing the faint chemical smell of one of the acids in the diamond finishing process.
He quickly yawned, feigning tiredness that would fit a soft, wealthy client like the Daggenbottoms. “I’m awfully bushed. I don’t suppose I could trouble you for the rest of the tour tomorrow?”
The Siamese cat-girl recovered from the interruption without missing a beat, inviting them to take the compound at their own pace.
“Don’t forget your passes! You can’t even take an elevator here without them. And you’ll need to. 3rd floor, suite 7.”
He loosened his tie on entering the room, still mulling over the words on their engraved invitation when there was a soft knocking at the door and the polite “Housekeeping, sir?” that accompanied it. Fenn opened to find a cheetah standing there, dressed in a maid’s uniform and looking barely awake as she smiled behind the cart loaded with toiletries and cleaning supplies. The fennec started to step out of the way before a flash of familiarity with her face warned him. He’d seen her looking confident and ready, staring from the personnel picture of a dossier.
“Miranda?”
It was the double report of the dart pistol that made him turn to find the pantheress standing behind him, the golden dye and spots gone from her damp fur under the bath-robe she had wrapped herself in. He stumbled forward, reaching for her as the high-powered sedative took effect in an instant. She tossed the weapon onto the bed, making her way over to him with a feline grace completely concealed while she had played the part of the rough and tumble game wardeness.
“You’re the best they had, Fenn. And now you’re mine.”
The pantheress shoved him back, where he fell into the compartment of the maid’s trolley waiting for him. He blinked slowly, looking up to find the emerald-eyed villainess he’d been sent after, her contact lenses gone just like her cheetah fur. When the lid closed, darkness overtook his thoughts and he slept.
“Wake up, Mr. Fenn.”
The soft, cooing voice that greeted his bleary eyes belonged to a bespectacled red panda-girl. Her hair tied back in a pony-tail as she hovered over him. The sound of a clicking lock cut his relaxation short as he realized he was far from the plush rooms of Regina’s retreat. His wrists were shackled to surface of the steel table he lay on, and he could only guess it was the same red panda who had stripped him down to his boxers while he slept.
Suspended as he was, he still managed a grin that had worked on the most stoic members of the fairer sex. Her tight outfit made it all the easier to try.
“I don’t suppose you’d let me take you away from all this. Or cover-up a bit more decently?”
He was interrupted by the sliding sound of the glass door as the plotting pantheress showed herself in.
“None of that. My girls know they’ll have to answer to me if they even consider one of your infamous offers, Fenn.”
Regina Panthera wore a black lab-coat open over a silk dress of her signature purple. Royal purple, the fennec observed with a touch of admiration for her confidence in her scheming.
“You look nice, Regina. So cheetahs can change their spots...”
She smiled as she walked closer to him, pressing her palm against his chest as she rounded on her prey. Those green eyes sparkling in her triumph.
“What can I say? I enjoyed having you at my feet in the nature reserve so much, I thought I’d make it permanent. Before you get any chance to de-rail my plans to make all men my slaves.”
“So, is that what it boils down to, Regina? All of this just because you hate men?”
The pantheress traced a finger lightly across his wrist, above where the metal cuff held him securely to that up-right table as she answered him. “You don’t begin to understand me, Fenn. I love males...but in their proper place.”
She signaled to one of her jump-suited technicians, and the fennec found himself suspended vertically to face her. That dark hair framed the victorious smile Regina allowed herself as she watched him struggle.
“Why fight it? We both know the power women already have over you, over every eager male who wants to obey us. All I’m doing is eliminating the inefficiency of letting you choose.”
She nodded over at the jump-suited red panda who moved quickly in response to her mistress’ signal. Her fingers flew at the keys on the control console, lowering a glass canopy over the fennec agent and pantheress. Regina smiled at him in the way of an owner towards their favorite new possession as he heard a soft rattling against the crystal dome surrounding them.
“I could spend weeks, maybe months breaking your will in the slowest, most sensual way. But I’ve got re-making the world on my schedule, so I need you made into a mindless slave a little faster.”
The first stone appeared, suddenly drawn up to a high curve in the glass just over him. It was polished to perfection, glittering with all the colors that were separated by its many facets as it bounced between the sandwiched layers of the glass. A vacuum pulled more of them from where they had lain at the bottom of the contraption, lifted by the suction force to dance against the clear confines of the man-trap the pantheress had perfected.
“Watch all those pretty diamonds, Fenn. You know, each one of those is going to be around the fingers of the women close to the world’s important men. Each one wearing a hypnotic bauble to make them my adoring accomplices. Then they’ll use their wiles to put every male in their proper place. At my feet.”
Fenn pulled at the cuffs securing him against that table, desperate to free himself and the world from her entrancing tyranny. But the light of those flawless diamonds sparkled everywhere he looked. The colorful display dazzling him, making it harder to fight. He found his face being held gently between Regina’s clawed fingers. Her voice was a low purr that filled his ears as his eyes opened to the rainbow of prismatic perfection.
“You surprise me, Fenn. I’d have left you to my girls if I didn’t think you deserved that personal touch. There’s so much potential in you, as long as you have the right woman in front of you...”
Her firm grasp on his muzzle stopped him from turning away, if there had been anywhere in that clear chamber to hide. Suddenly, he felt another incentive to open his eyes. The villainess reached for his arousal, pressing her fingers against the bespoke boxers from Savile Row. His fingers made a fist as he told himself what she had threatened: to make him a mindless slave, nothing more than a male pet to please her while she watched the rest of the world fall into her grasp.
Regina delicately opened the fly of the fenenc’s under-wear, flush with more than victory as she whispered that he’d be too busy on his knees before her perfect paws to watch the last of the male empire crumble. The only agent who had a hope of stopping her throbbed between her fingers, groaning as his paws flexed uselessly in the steel restraints.
“You can’t stop me. You never wanted to in the first place. Give in and you’ll be my favorite pet...”
Fenn gasped for breath as her light caresses turned into endless strokes that wore his resistance down. He opened his eyes and realized his mistake for a moment before the light through the twinkling diamond prisms helped him relax. Those rainbow colors scattered over him as perfect as those gems. All of it perfect, flawless like Regina...Mistress...the pantheress...
“Mmm...good boy. Just keep staring into those pretty lights, my perfect diamonds. The first male I’ll perfect in an obedient slave for my plans. My girls are more than capable, but it’ll be so nice for them to see what we can do.”
Every word accompanied by another pump of her fingers, touching him and making his member the easiest way to open the way for that brain-washing. The dripping arousal already reached his thigh as she leaned close to his ears and whispered as the fennec’s eyes reflected the endless colors in those diamonds.
“Now you’re mine, Fenn. Every other male is next. Come.”
He shivered as she held him, moaning aloud as the ebony fur of the pantheress’ fingers finished him off, leaving a will-less, glassy-eyed fennec who would obey her every command. Fenn slumped his head forward while she purred, pleased with the amount of seed the former secret agent had gushed as the last of his will left him.
She snapped her fingers and the red panda-girl lifted the diamond dome from over them. A towel cleaned the traces of her newest slave’s surrender from her hand as she gave one of her latex-suited guards instructions.
“Take him to my private rooms. Commence Operation Queen’s Gambit at 2100 hours. I’m going to go celebrate.”