TALES FROM A FAR COUNTRY By Phil Lane & Freddie Clegg Contents CHAPTER 1 : THE HUNTER OF TVERSKAYA...................................................................5 CHAPTER 2 : CHECK-IN AND DEPARTURES.................................................................18 CHAPTER 3 : AN UNEXPECTED RE-LOCATION.............................................................25 CHAPTER 4 : THE AMBITIONS OF POPOVA...................................................................31 CHAPTER 5 : A QUESTION OF ATTRIBUTION................................................................36 CHAPTER 6 : NEWSPEAK. ..............................................................................................54 CHAPTER 7 : THE CHOICE...............................................................................................63 CHAPTER 8 : A FAREWELL TO FANTASIES ..................................................................69 CHAPTER 9 : A SERIOUS TORC. ....................................................................................85 CHAPTER 10 : CHRYSALLIS..............................................................................................91 CHAPTER 11 : PROTECTIVE CUSTODY...........................................................................96 CHAPTER 12 : DR MENDELEYEV....................................................................................101 CHAPTER 13 : A DAY IN TOWN.......................................................................................113 CHAPTER 14 : A NEW MESON PRODUCTION METHOD................................................119 CHAPTER 15 : A RUN IN THE PARK................................................................................128 CHAPTER 16 : PICTURES IN AN EXHIBITION.................................................................135 CHAPTER 17 : AN AMERICAN COUSIN...........................................................................137 CHAPTER 18 : A NIGHTCAP............................................................................................148 CHAPTER 19 : THE USE AND ABUSE OF STATISTICIANS...........................................157 CHAPTER 20 : ANOTHER NAME, ANOTHER COUNTRY................................................169 CHAPTER 21 : A GIRLS’ DAY OUT...................................................................................181 CHAPTER 22 : MOTHERCARE ........................................................................................195 CHAPTER 23 : BEING PHILOSOPHICAL..........................................................................203 CHAPTER 24 : A VACATION IS ARRANGED...................................................................214 CHAPTER 25 : BALTIC JUBILLEE.....................................................................................229 All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced or reposted without permission. Email: [email protected] Web group: freddiestales19.wordpress.com INTRODUCTION In the world around us there are those that will prey on the weaker, the unprepared, the vulnerable. In pursuit of their own desires or seeking to profit from the desires of others there are always those whose acts are hard for us to understand. Once more, it is October 2009. Angela is trying to balance her teaching responsibilities and research projects, spurred on by the Dean’s ambitions for the academic standing of the University; Joe McEwan is planning his trip to Cambodia in a month’s time; Jenny McEwan is trying to digest the results of her summer research and Freddie Clegg and Larry are still musing on potential advantages which Inward Bound might bring to their principal, clandestine business. ‘And from far away, minds immeasurably more determined than our own, were looking down on a young woman and slowly and surely they drew their plans against her...’ (With apologies to H.G. Wells…) WHAT’S WHAT? "Tales From a Far Country" is the third episode in the story of the relationship between Jennifer McEwan, an adventurous academic who is studying BDSM games and adult play behaviour and her husband Joe, a civil engineer who is anxious about his wife’s sexual interests and where they might lead. “Tales From A Far Country” is the sequel – well actually a “simulquel” - to our last story, “Such Sweet Sorrow” and explains what happens to Jennifer after her mysterious disappearance. If you are a new reader, this short resume will help you understand what is going on! The tale began in our first story ‘Thesis’, when Professor Angela Dawney, Jennifer’s Head of Department and her research supervisor persuaded Jenny to enroll in a consensual slave training programme organised by the adult experience and adventure company, Inward Bound. Angela claimed this would be an excellent psychological laboratory for Jennifer to persue her research but secretly, the Professor hoped to drive a wedge between Jennifer and her husband and win Jennifer’s affections for herself. Inward Bound has received investment from what purports to be an international transport business called Freddie Clegg Enterprises but is in fact the front organization for Clegg’s highly illegal abduction and slavery operation. Freddie Clegg Enterprises also have hopes for Jennifer’s research - to help them identify and recruit willing victims. Angela, anxious to use Jenny’s experiences for her own benefit at the earliest opportunity, almost sabotaged Jenny’s participation at Inward Bound. The effect of this was to disturb the ever paranoid Clegg organisation which led to Jenny and Angela experiencing what they imagine to be a CIA inspired “rendition”. This claimed to be an investigation into Internet Crime but was really an attempt to discover if they were were actually in the pay of Clegg’s arch Russian competitor, Anatoly Kustensky who, by an innocent but most unfortunate coincidence, is an old friend of Professor Dawney. In the end Jenny completed her course at Inward Bound and returned home, marked emotionally, physically and psychologically by her experiences. She realised that she cannot suppress her desires, and wished more than ever to share her lifestyle preferences with her husband. The second part of the story - ‘Such Sweet Sorrow” - takes place in the months which follow, when Angela has the opportunity to tell the tale of her ‘rendition’ and interrogation to her friend Anatoly Kustensky. One bright day in London, as Jennifer makes her way to a medical library to pursue her research, she vanishes and despite an extensive and energetic police investigation and the efforts of Joe and her parents, no trace of her can be found. What has happened to Jennifer? What trials and adventures have befallen her? Now read on – or start from the beginning by reading “Thesis” and “Such Sweet Sorrow”! WHO’S WHO? Jenny McEwan : a doctorate student at a University in the English Midlands, studying psychology with a research focus on adult play and the role of BDSM, who mysteriously disappeared in “Such Sweet Sorrow”. Joe McEwan : her husband, a man less than comfortable with his wife’s sexual interests and where they have led her. Professor Angela Dawney : Jenny’s research supervisor and erstwhile lover. Cathy Corbin : Jenny’s best friend and college companion Freddie and Larry : principals in the highly illegal slaving organization, Freddie Clegg Enterprises, part owners of Inward Bound “adult playground” where Jenny has been conducting her research. (To learn more of them read “Market Forces”) Anatoly Kustensky: arch eastern European competitor of the Clegg Organization who sees himself as the market leader in the field Sveta Kustenskaya: Anatoly’s wife and perhaps the ‘power behind the throne’ Neena Kirova : trusted lieutenant of Anatoly and Sveta Alana Kustenskaya: only child of Anatoly and Sveta Also: many mysterious and dangerous members of the Kustensky Organisation Chapter footnotes: Our readers tell us they like them but we have tried to keep these to a minimum and have included some to help readers follow the narrative more easily or to explain ‘idioms’ which might not be familiar to everyone. CHAPTER 1 : THE HUNTER OF TVERSKAYA A CASE CONFERENCE Anatoly is a hunter. He enjoys the wild places, the pursuit of game; of birds and fish. But Anatoly has another, favourite prey. For him, the best quarry of all is homo sapiens urbis: the only species that provides what he considers a true match for his resourcefulness and cunning. And because the sport does not end with a kill, there is the shock and dismay of capture to enjoy; the entertainment to be had from careful training and schooling until the prey accepts the life that Anatoly has chosen for it. Tverskaya Ulitsa is one of Moscow’s busiest streets. Throughout the day, the traffic pours down from the west into the city centre. It’s full of people and that provides an excellent cover for Anatoly. He has an office and apartment just by the junction of Tverskaya and Bryusov Pereulok. Visitors, anonymous in the crowds, can slip in and out of his building and he can enjoy the peace and serenity of the garden square at the rear. Anatoly looks at his watch. The fruits of his most recent hunting trip are “enjoying” his hospitality at his facility outside Moscow. They will be meeting their new owner just about now, realising that there’s more to their abduction than kidnapping for ransom or some political game. It had been an unusual commission. Three Slavic types, sallow skin, with some “presence”, the request had said. To Anatoly, the candidates that his research team had found looked homely if he was being polite, but the