Page 4 of 5

Re: The Bureau of National Defense and Government [M/M] [new chapter 2/3/23]

Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2023 5:38 pm
by wataru14

Chapter 10: An Unexpected Ally

Chuy stood outside the door to Carlito’s office. He and the American had been in there for over an hour now. And based on the sounds that had been coming through the door, they weren’t doing any work. Chuy allowed his unflappable stone-faced intensity to drop for a fleeting second and his lips formed a scowl. But only for a moment. “He’s playing with his toy too much. It’s distracting his focus.”

Carlito was playing with his food, so to speak. And he should know better. “Beware when setting a trap, let ye become trapped yourself,” Chuy thought. While he had to admit that Agent DeLuca was a handsome man, and he had fantasized about what he would do if he had the agent bound and alone at his mercy, he did not understand Carlito’s infatuation with him. It was almost an addiction. Yes, there was sexual tension in a “slap slap kiss kiss” sort of way, but was that really so intoxicating? If Carlito needed release after a mission, all sweaty and worked up, there was no shortage of men on the payroll who would jump at the chance. There was a time when Chuy himself would…

The door to the office opened behind him. Chuy half-turned to look, never taking his attention fully away from the hall. A bodyguard of his training never allowed himself to be completely distracted. Never allowed himself to skimp on his duty. Unlike some others he could mention. Carlito stepped into the hall, his bare feet soft against the carpet. He was nearly naked, except for a miniscule designer Speedo. Chuy had given it to him as a gift after the Milan job a few months ago. Sonny stepped out behind him, wearing another pair from the same collection. They had towels draped over their arms.

“Chuy, my friend,” Carlito said. “There is cause to celebrate! Sonny here has managed to pry the information about the arms deal from His Highness and we have been planning our next move.” Chuy allowed himself another small frown, unseen by Carlito or Sonny, who were gazing dreamily into each other’s eyes. “But strategizing is heavy work. We will be retiring to the pool for a while. While we do so, I need you to go check on the four captives in the detention wing. Make sure none of them are broken beyond repair. We can put them back in the general prisoner pool tomorrow. That should be enough time for them to have learned their lesson, no?” Sonny rubbed Carlito’s back when he said this. He was being so obvious, Chuy, thought. How could Carlito not see? Or was he being deliberately obstuse?

Chuy just gave a curt nod and stood aside as Carlito and Sonny headed down the hall towards the rooftop pool of the compound. He had a tingling feeling in the back of his mind. Something didn’t feel right. Maybe it was simple jealousy, maybe not. But he didn’t trust Sonny. It was all to convenient. Yes, there had been hypnotic suggestion used in the interrogation chamber, but had it worked? Was Sonny really converted or was he playing them all? Carlito was better trained than he in seeing through deception, but was Carlito too blinded by lust to tell if he was being played? Or was Chuy just being paranoid in his suspicions? It didn’t matter. Sonny’s presence was disrupting the harmony and effectiveness of their organization. He needed to be removed from the equation one way or the other.

---

Back in the detention wing, the four captive BNDG agents were nearing their breaking points. It had been hours since their confinement and all were under intense strain from their restraints. Malik had gone silent a while ago, conserving all his energy in an attempt to keep his arms from wrenching out of their sockets in his suspension. Rhett had gone numb from the position he was bent into: spread wide and folded in half by his metal yoke. Pahn and Williams fared better in terms of overt severity, but were still unable to move from their positions or speak because of the gags in their mouths. But the worst part was that they were unsure of where Sonny’s loyalties were.

True, he had given them a coded message, but that alone didn’t mean anything. False hope was as effective a torture method as the rack. Pahn, in particular, was doubtful. Deep down, he felt slightly vindicated that his dislike of Sonny had been proven on the mark. Malik and Williams would say it was confirmation bias and nothing more, but Pahn knew he was right. After all, Sonny could have sneak attacked Carlito when they were alone and came to free them while their foe was incapacitated. He had ample time alone with him to do it. But instead he had participated in their humiliating predicament. He squirmed in his chain hogtie, trying to find a semi-comfortable position. After all, Sonny was the one who chose their methods of… wait!

A thought began to develop. “Yes,” Pahn thought. “He did choose the way we were each restrained. But look at what he chose!” Rhett and Malik’s restraints were showy and extreme, but they played to the agents’ respective strengths: Rhett’s agility and Malik’s willpower. If he had switched them, they would both be near-dead by now, but they could each easily endure the bondage Sonny chose. Maybe not “easily,” but still… Even his own restraint was significant. Pahn’s greatest strengths were in his hands and his spatial awareness. Yes, his hands were encased in metal orbs, but they were protected. The mitts were more of a monkey trap: too narrow for his fists to slip out of, but not tightly restrictive. If freed, his hands and fingers would be at full fighting strength. He’d be able to shoot right away without having to restore circulation like he would need to if they were fastened with tight rope or cuffs. And the position he was laying in allowed him to see the entire room. The others didn’t have so clear a view. He would be instantly aware of anyone coming and could formulate a counter-plan.

The realization hit him like a punch to the face. Williams had probably already figured that out. Pahn was sure of it. He felt a renewed sense of hope. If only he could verbalize this to Williams! If not for the blasted gags, they could communicate and form a plan. Communicate? Wait! They could communicate! Pahn rolled onto his side. It was the only movement his chains would allow. Slowly and deliberately he tapped the metal mitts encasing his hands against the steel table. “Metal on metal,” Pahn thought. “Sonny probably planned that, too.” He began to drum out a code to Williams.

“Sonny not turned,” he tapped. Williams nodded sagely. Pahn was about to tap out another coded message, but stopped and rolled back onto his stomach as he heard tromping footsteps in the hall and a huge shadow appearing through the space under the door. “Thanks again, Agent DeLuca,” he thought. Pahn had just managed to return to his original position when the door to the room opened. But his heart sank when he saw Chuy enter, carrying a black box.

Chuy was the last thing he wanted to see right now. And from what some of the veteran agents back at base said, if you were in this position Chuy often WAS the last thing you did see. But he didn’t seem to have execution in mind right now. At least not from what Pahn could tell. The big man was hard to read. Chuy put the box on the shelving built into the table under Williams and then grabbed the senior agent by the chin. He pulled Williams’ face in close to his and whispered something in his ear. Williams stared coldly into his eyes for a moment, then Chuy released his grip and left the room.

As soon as he was gone, Williams began to scoot himself over towards the edge of the table in a series of short hops. Pahn grunted “What are you doing?” through his gag, but Williams shot him a look that said “Quiet! I need to focus.” He slid over to the edge of the table and did one more short hop. With a soft thud, he slipped off and landed on the floor. With his legs bound in a lotus position as they were, Williams knew how risky this was. If he didn’t control his body perfectly, he could easily break his legs when he hit the floor. But his years of training helped him keep his positioning and he landed safely. He slid his back up against the table and reached for the box with his cuffed hands.

Pahn watched expectantly as Williams stuck his restrained hands into the box and started groping around. What was Williams doing? And what was in that box that was so important he risked serious injury to get to it? Pahn watched with baited breath as Williams fiddled around behind him. He could see the strain on Williams’ body from attempting this while bound in the supplication position he was in. But after a moment or two he saw that Williams had found what he was looking for and removed his hands from the box. Pahn could see Williams manipulating something behind his back, and then a moment later he brought his hands around in front of him. The handcuffs were removed and Williams held a small ring of keys in his hand!

Working with great speed, Williams began to undo the knots that held the ropes binding him in place. He undid the knot holding him into a bow position first and straitened his posture as soon as it was released. Then he reached down and undid the fetters holding his legs into the Lotus position. As soon as his legs were free, Williams stood up. The reduced circulation from his bondage made his legs weak and he nearly fell down, but he steadied himself using the table. Holding the keys in his hand, he stretched and moved his legs around to stimulate blood flow. After a minute or two, he seemed confident that he could stand on his own and silently moved over to Pahn. Williams reached up and started feeling around the rope harness surrounding his torso and pinning his arms to his sides. It wasn’t easy since he could only move his arms through half their range of motion due to the ropes across his biceps. But eventually he managed to find a knot and got to work. The ropes slowly loosened and fell away. When his arms were finally free of their prison, Williams pulled the gag out of his mouth. He was loose! He fumbled through the key ring and hurried over to Rhett.

Using the largest keys from the ring, Williams unlocked the yoke around Rhett’s ankles. He opened the hinges and carefully removed Rhett’s legs from the rings. He slowly guided them back down so that Rhett was in a normal laying-down position. The agent let out an audible sigh of relief as the tension on his legs was finally released, but Williams immediately clamped a hand over his mouth. The sigh was involuntary, but Williams made it clear that complete silence was needed. Rhett, slightly ashamed that he let his discipline slip, nodded under his handgag. Williams acknowledged. He couldn’t fault Rhett for making a sound when he was finally saved from the excruciating bend he was trapped in, but noises like that could be heard by guards. They couldn’t risk that. Williams unlocked Rhett’s hands and neck from the yoke and allowed the agent to rest up while he hurried over to Pahn.

Rhett had to fight the urge to sigh with relief again as he stretched out on the table, letting the blood flow resume. Williams cycled through the keys and began to unlock the various chains that held Pahn. It seems each one was held by a different lock, so it took quite some time to get them all. Pahn wiggled his fingers happily when the steel mitts came off. He was ready for action. But it took all three to free Malik. Two had to hold him up while Williams undid the bonds that held him in suspension, or else the change in his weight would have wrenched his arms from his sockets. But they were successful. Now free, the four agents gathered together to plan.

“What was that?” Rhett asked Williams. “What did Chuy say to you? Why did he leave the keys?”

Williams replied “All he said was ‘It’s time for Sonny to go. Take him and leave.’” Everyone was floored. Williams continued. “My guess is that he’s jealous of all the attention Sonny’s been getting from Carlito.”

“Do you think he’s on the level?” Pahn asked. “Are you sure this isn’t a setup?”

Williams said “You tell me.” He reached into the box, and took out a fully-loaded handgun. He handed it to Pahn. “The keys aren’t all he left.”

---

The group had to be stealthy as they navigated the winding passageways of the CUFF compound. Chuy had left a detailed account of the guard movements and schedule to minimize their contact. But they couldn’t avoid them all. The map was crude and simple and the team had to rely on what they remembered about the layout from the previous day. When the team eventually did encounter a squad, down a subhallway one floor up, a few well-placed tranq darts fired from the gun Chuy had left took them down with ease.

Rhett, in particular, was doubtful. “Why would Chuy help us?” he asked as he helped Williams strip the uniforms off a squad of sleeping guards. They had dragged the fallen patrol into a nearby maintenance room and were getting to work acquiring disguises. “He and Carlito have been a team since… since forever, right?”

“You answered your own question,” Malik said. “He’s jealous of the attention Carlito is pouring on Sonny. He can’t kill him or Carlito would get upset. So he’s using us to get rid of the ‘problem.’”

“Still,” Williams said. “Rhett does have a point. His instructions have been spot-on so far, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a con. Carlito could be behind this whole crazy scheme. If he kills us outright, Sonny will get mad. So this could be a way for him to have justification to take us out. An escape attempt would be all the reason he needs. But we can’t let this chance pass. We have to try.”

Pahn finished binding the hands and ankles of the defeated guards with duct tape and gagging their mouths with their own undershirts. “I’m not going to say again that we should just get out of here and leave Sonny,” he said. “I’ve spoken my peace on that already. But we should consider the very real possibility that if this is a setup, that he’s behind it and not Carlito.” Malik started to speak, but Pahn shushed him. “Yes, I understand why he bound us the way he did. I figured that out on my own. But maybe… just maybe… he’s playing us. We don’t know how deep they got in his mind. Games like this are classic Carlito.”

“If he’s doing that, then they’ve gotten to him fully and he’s lost to us,” Williams said, buttoning up his stolen guard shirt. “We have to risk it. We need to be sure. He’s too valuable an asset to leave without confirmation.” He buckled the captured guard’s duty belt around his waist. “With these uniforms we’ll be able to move about relatively unnoticed, as long as we keep to their patrol pattern. Pahn only has five darts left and if we encounter another hostile squad we’ll only have one left. Let’s move out.” The four agents taped the sleeping CUFF guards back-to-back in a four-way group around a support pole in the maintenance room and stepped out into the corridor.

Following the guards’ normal route would make for slower going, but it would reduce contact with the enemy and not draw any undue suspicion if they were seen. Their path would lead them up to the executive suites soon enough. Chuy’s instructions said Carlito would be in a meeting with the Big Boss for one hour in the early afternoon, which would leave Sonny alone in their apartment. They could spring him from there. They just had to get there without bringing the whole place down on them. Occasionally they would pass another patrol group, but they kept their caps low over their faces and went by without saying anything. That seemed to be normal procedure for the guards. The coast was clear when they arrived at the elevator that led to the executive suites. Williams pressed the call button and they waited with baited breath for the doors to open.

The elevator was empty except for a lone attendant. After the team’s last assault of this level, an access code was required to get upstairs and his job was to grant only authorized passage to the suites. Chuy had a private one, of course, but he couldn’t let them use it or his involvement in their jailbreak would be found out. As the team entered the elevator, Williams just pointed up without saying anything and turned to face the door. The team did the same, keeping their faces out of the attendant’s sight. He studied the team’s uniforms from behind for a moment, then punched in his code. The elevator started to move up, but after a moment, all four immediately felt something was wrong. The attendant was staring at the back of Williams’ head with a thoughtful expression on his face. Was that a tattoo on the back of his neck? None of the patrol guards had that. The instant that he realized no one on the patrol teams was anywhere near Williams’ age, the group swarmed him.

Pahn interposed himself between the control panel and the attendant. The man’s hand desperately flailed for the panic button, but he only managed to poke Pahn in the chest before Malik and Rhett grabbed him and pulled him back. Williams clamped his hand tightly over the man’s mouth as Rhett and Malik dragged him, kicking and squirming, to the elevator floor. Williams held their captive silent as Rhett and Malik flipped him onto his stomach and pinioned his arms behind his back. The elevator didn’t have far to go, so they moved with lightning speed. Pahn grabbed some cable ties from his uniform belt and quickly restrained their captive’s wrists and ankles. Rhett left Malik to hold their prisoner quiet while he stripped the man’s shoes and socks off. He tied the socks together end to end and shoved the massive knot between their captive’s teeth. As Malik held him up, Rhett secured the knot behind his head, silencing his frantic screams for help.

“That’ll do for now,” Williams said. “Once we get to the floor, I’m sending the elevator down to the sub-basement. By the time he gets free we’ll have Sonny and the elevator won’t get back in time for reinforcements to interrupt us.”

“But how will we get down?” Rhett asked.

“There’s fire escape stairs that only open from this floor,” Malik said. “We can use them to get all the way to the ground level.” The team nodded in agreement as they felt the elevator slowing. As soon as the door opened, they rushed into the hall… and right into Chuy. The elevator door closed behind them.

There was a tense moment. Both sides looked at each other warily. If this was indeed a setup, Chuy had them in cramped quarters and would smash them all into hamburger before they could blink. But Chuy just stepped aside. He leaned against the wall and slid down until he was sitting solidly on the floor. He looked down the hall towards Sonny’s apartment and waved the group on. Then he closed his eyes and slumped over, pretending to be knocked out. He held two tranq darts in his hand and dropped them to the floor at his side.

The team collectively let out their held breath and hurried down the hall. Rhett approached the doorknob with a wire in his hand, but the door was unlocked. He slowly opened it and Williams led them inside.

---

Sonny knew someone was approaching before they opened the door. He was sitting cross-legged on a mat on the floor of the living room, shirtless and in sweatpants, doing yoga stretches. In his meditative state he heard four sets of feet approaching. And moving with a purpose. There was so sound of conflict outside or struggle with Chuy down the hall, and no emergency alarm was going off. So why was a patrol squad coming to his room with such urgency? He tensed his muscles, getting ready to spring into action if necessary. When his visitors just opened the door without knocking the authorized code, Sonny uncrossed his legs and dove behind the couch with blinding speed. He grabbed the emergency gun taped behind the back of the furniture and held it ready.

“Sonny!” Williams whispered. “Don’t shoot! It’s us!”

“Fuck!” Sonny thought.

He peeked out from behind the couch, confirming the voice was not being imitated. Seeing the four BNDG agents taking a defensive position near the door, he stood up and walked over. “What the hell are you doing here?” he whispered.

“We’re busting out,” Rhett said. “Put some shoes on and hurry up. There isn’t much time.”

Sonny stepped back. “Guys, this is a bad idea,” he said. “Does anyone know you’re here?” But he knew the answer before he finished asking. Chuy. It was the only way they could have gotten here unmolested and wearing guard uniforms. He must have given them intel and let them up. But why? “Never mind,” he said. “You have to go. Now. Carlito will be back any minute.”

“We’re not leaving without you,” Williams said. “You’re too valuable to BNDG and have too much intel from the prince. He told you everything, didn’t he?” Sonny nodded. “We can’t allow you to be compromised further. You’re coming with us, willingly or not.” The three other agents moved to flanking positions around Sonny.

“I can’t do that,” Sonny said. “I have an endgame here and leaving now would ruin everything I’ve been trying to do. You’re running out of time. If you don’t leave right now, I can’t protect you any more than I have.”

Williams raised his tranq gun and leveled it at Sonny’s bare chest. “I’m afraid we can’t do that, son,” he said. “The mission comes first.”

“That’s right, it does” Sonny said. He raised his gun and pointed it at Williams in response. The two stared at each other across the room in a tense standoff. Neither man blinked.

“Funny you should say that,” Williams said. “Since your mission had a contingent objective, didn’t it? You handled part 1 excellently. You got the intel from the prince without breaking a sweat. That part was easy. But it looks like you don’t have the stones for part 2. How deep did they get their claws in you, DeLuca?”

“What are you talking about?” Pahn said. “What contingency?”

“In the case of capture,” Williams said “Agent DeLuca was ordered to…”

Malik finished Williams’ sentence. “…assassinate Carlito,” he said gravely. The bits of data whirled around in his head and formed one clear conclusion. “That has to be it.”

Sonny nodded slowly. “And you are complicating matters,” he said. “Leave now before it’s too late.”

“Bullshit!” Williams said. “You’ve had ample time complete your mission and you haven’t. And you have no plans to, either, don’t you? If we leave now, this one is theirs hook, line, and sinker.”

“Williams,” Pahn said. “We can’t tranq him. It’ll be hard enough for us four to get out without dragging 200 pounds of dead weight with us.”

“Exactly,” Williams said. “The only alternative is to complete Sonny’s mission ourselves. Without his help. Boys, Agent DeLuca is now considered hostile. After we drop Carlito we can extract Sonny for deprogramming at BNDG headquarters. But for now he can’t be allowed to interfere. Take him down!”

Pahn needed no more encouragement. His tranq gun flew up and fired. Sonny dodged, but the dart caught him in the arm as he dove for cover behind the couch. He pulled it out and tossed it aside, but the soporific chemical was doing its work already. His fingers went numb and the gun fell uselessly from his hand. Sonny tried to stand, using the couch for support, but his legs gave out and he crashed to the floor. As his vision fogged, he saw Rhett and Malik standing over him.

Williams lowered his gun and said “Tie him up” in a cold and steely voice. His words drifted away into the wind as Sonny succumbed to the warm blackness of sleep.

Coming Soon: Chapter 11 – Gallows Humor… Only No One’s Laughing

Re: The Bureau of National Defense and Government [M/M] [new chapter 2/21/23]

Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2023 6:07 pm
by blackbound
Damn, twists within twists within twists! I'm impressed by the deception.

Re: The Bureau of National Defense and Government [M/M] [new chapter 2/21/23]

Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2023 6:48 pm
by KidnappedCowboy
Agree with [mention]blackbound[/mention]

This story is becoming a riddle wrapped up in an enigma!

A wonderful birthday present today!!! :D :D :D

Re: The Bureau of National Defense and Government [M/M] [new chapter 2/21/23]

Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2023 10:12 pm
by gag1195
The twists! The Turns! The Betrayals! So juicy! I'm on the edge of my seat! So many intriguing questions to try and answer as well! Cannot wait!

Re: The Bureau of National Defense and Government [M/M] [new chapter 2/21/23]

Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2023 12:13 am
by spies
The twists are confusing me, yes.
The twists excite me like crazy, yes.
Damn! You are a masterpiece yourself.

Re: The Bureau of National Defense and Government [M/M] [new chapter 2/21/23]

Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2023 4:50 pm
by Guardianbound
This is really intrigue at its finest. Can't wait for more of this. Each chapter adds new layers to these characters.

Re: The Bureau of National Defense and Government [M/M] [new chapter 2/21/23]

Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2023 2:08 am
by Volobond
Most, MOST intriguing...

I'm so excited to see how this alters things - and whether or not Sonny's endgame was true or a result of his conditioning!

Re: The Bureau of National Defense and Government [M/M] [new chapter 2/21/23]

Posted: Sun Mar 05, 2023 6:44 am
by wataru14

CHAPTER 11 – Gallows Humor, Only No One’s Laughing

Williams and the squad took concealed positions in the room: behind the couch, in the hallway to the bathroom, behind the kitchen wall… They were all completely hidden from the view of anyone who would be coming through the door. There was only one gun among them – the tranq gun wielded by Pahn – and it only had four darts. Every shot needed to count. The others had fumbled around in the apartment to find anything that could be used as a makeshift weapon. A kitchen knife, a mop from the closet, anything. The goal would be to incapacitate Carlito with whatever was at hand, and then finish him off while he was subdued. There was also the matter of Chuy outside in the hall to deal with.

Even though he had helped them to get up here, he only did so on the promise that they would take Sonny and leave. The plan was for them to be gone before Carlito returned. But that clearly wasn’t happening now. Even allowing for time to convince Sonny to leave with them, the group had been in the room far too long for the original plan. Chuy must have noticed that something was up. If the door to the suite opened, it was equally likely to be an enraged Chuy as it was an unaware Carlito. And that would be something none of them wanted. So Williams decided to improvise. He nodded to Pahn.

Pahn silently made his way to the door and opened it a crack, scanning for the presence of anyone outside. Seeing the coast was clear, he crept out into the hall. Carlito’s office was at the far end, only one door down from the suite. Chuy was sitting on the floor by the elevator at the extreme other end of the hall. Being down a short flight of stairs, he couldn’t be seen by anyone exiting the office unless they passed the suite and kept walking. Carlito would definitely stop to collect Sonny before leaving the floor. Pahn carefully made his way to where Chuy sat.

The giant man was watching the hall and was relieved to finally hear footsteps coming. The troublesome interloper that had been disrupting operations for the past few days would soon be gone. But Chuy narrowed his eyes when he only saw one of the BNDG crew approaching and not the whole squad. They were going back on their word! They were betraying him! Chuy lept into action, but before he could get up off the floor, Pahn fired a tranq dart square into his chest. Not confident that one would do the trick, he fired a second into the massive islander’s leg. Chuy glared at him with murderous hatred in his eyes, and then wobbled a little before falling back against the wall. Pahn waited a few seconds to be sure Chuy was out, then returned to the room.

“Tattletale has been neutralized,” he said to Williams as he took his hiding place. If Chuy was left alone in the hall, he would have definitely warned Carlito not to enter the suite. Or summoned guards. Now he was out of the equation. Pahn looked over at Sonny, who was lying on the floor behind the couch, completely unconscious. Wanting to take no chances, Williams and the squad had hogtied Sonny with paracord. The synthetic fibers were strong and held knots perfectly, and such measures were needed to keep a trained BNDG agent down for the count. Ropes encircled Sonny’s arms, lap, and calves, pressing them fantastically tightly together. His wrists and ankles were trapped in an interwoven web of robe, held fast with special knots designed by BNDG to be unslippable. In fact, they would tighten further if the captive tried to struggle. Sonny’s bare feet had been pulled back and secured with more cord to the rope entombing his upper body. Even if he was awake, he could no more wriggle free from his bonds as he could fly to the moon. Sonny’s bare chest rubbed against the shag carpet of the living room as he lay on his belly. His mouth had been stuffed and sealed with several layers of black cloth, spanning the entire length of his lower face from nose to chin. A final strip had been tied around his eyes.

Confident that Sonny would be no obstacle to their mission, even if he did manage to shrug off the tranquilizer and awaken, the squad of BNDG agents steeled their wills and prepared to strike. They were on edge and completely ready when the doorknob began to turn.

---

Blackness. Warmth. A slight feeling of euphoria. That is all Sonny could think about. His limbs felt like Jell-O, except for the biting tightness of the ropes that held him. Those he could feel, pressing against his flesh and holding him immobile. Other than that, he couldn’t perceive anything of where he was or what was happening to him. His equilibrium was all off-kilter and he felt like the room was moving, even though he knew it wasn’t. But he could form complete sentences in his thoughts. That meant the drug from the tranq dart was running its course and would soon be out of his system. One problem solved. But the other, more pressing problems remained. Namely “How am I going to free myself if my limbs don’t work?” and “What is the status of… my mission?”

While he was slowly becoming lucid, Sonny thought he heard shouting and scuffling near him. But his hearing was still unreliable due to the psychoactive agent in the tranq drug. He couldn’t be sure what he had heard before. But now that the dull ringing was beginning to subside, he could definitely hear someone nearby. But who it was, he had no idea. He felt a tingling sensation start to flicker through his extremities and he managed to gain enough control over his motor functions to wriggle a little. His mouth was dry and aching from the bundle of cloth keeping him silent, but he managed to let out a tiny groan.

He felt a pair of hands on his back, steadying him. But he couldn’t tell whose. He groggily squirmed until his limbs slipped free of their torpor and fully obeyed him. He felt his mind fully come into focus as the last of the drug’s effects wore off. He grunted full out and bucked like a bronco, but the hands on his back held him firm. Blinding light hit his eyes as the cloth blindfold was torn from his face. He blinked a few times until his pupils adjusted to the light. He looked up into the smiling face of Carlito.

“You’re awake, mi amor,” he said. “We had quite a scare.”

Sonny squirmed and wriggled to change his position and see the rest of the room. He was still on the floor behind the couch, but he could see that no one else was in the room but Carlito and himself. He gasped and licked his lips as Carlito undid his gag and pulled out the thick layers of stuffing. “Huh?” he said. “Where are the others? Where’s Chuy?”

Carlito bent down and began the long, laborious process of undoing the ropes that held Sonny prisoner. The knotwork was intricate and strong, so this would take some time. “Chuy has been a very bad boy,” Carlito said. “He is serving his penance right now. As for the others… you’ll see soon enough.”

Sonny’s legs ached as Carlito managed to disengage the rope holding him into his hogtie and let him stretch out. The one good thing about being drugged, he thought, was that it stops you from feeling cramps, too. “Bad boy?” he said. “What did he do?”

“He was conspiring with your former colleagues,” Carlito said, his fingers digging through the elaborate knot that held Sonny’s rope chest harness together. “He was overcome with jealousy over the attention I’ve been giving you and helped the others to escape their cell. He made a deal to let them go if they took you away with them. He stood aside while they came in here and cruelly captured you.”

Sonny began to remember through his dreamy fogged mind. “Yes,” he said. “They said so when they came in here. But I wasn’t going to leave with them.”

Carlito crooned, “Yes, hermoso. I know. When you refused them they drugged you and bound you securely so you couldn’t interfere. But that wasn’t all they had planned. Instead of taking you, they stayed in here. Waiting. Do you know what for?”

Sonny couldn’t remember. His mind was still turning over from his drugged stupor.

“They were waiting for me,” Carlito said. He managed to disentangle the knot and unwound Sonny’s chest harness before moving on to the bonds on his lap and calves. “If Chuy hadn’t felt a pang of remorse for his betrayal and shoved me out of the way, they would have tranquilized me as soon as I opened the door. Then they could have killed me in my sleep or carried me off to Dios knows where.”

Sonny breathed deeply now that his chest was free. The increased air flow helped his mind clear. “Yes,” he thought, remembering. “Since I hadn’t moved on assassinating Carlito, they decided to take the mission out of my hands. I remember that.” He shook his head to clear out the last of the cobwebs and said “But they failed. How?”

Carlito had freed Sonny’s ankles. Only the agent’s hands remained bound behind his back. “Chuy charged in the door headfirst,” he said. “The one called Pahn unloaded two more tranquilizer darts into him, but he shrugged them off. He had taken four in less than an hour. That much dosage would have killed a normal man, but Chuy is not a normal man, no? Poor Pahn didn’t think that our agents are trained to resist the effects of the drugged darts. It would be pretty stupid to have them be vulnerable to their own weapons, no? If an escapee got hold of a tranq gun, it wouldn’t be prudent to have him be able to incapacitate his captors so easily.”

Sonny nodded sagely. With Chuy’s iron constitution and the adrenaline surge he must have been feeling, he could fight through the effects. He would probably be feeling them now, though. Carlito continued. “Pahn had used up all his ammunition. So Chuy and I came in and engaged them directly. They fought well, but by that point they were cornered and the outcome was already decided. We managed to recapture them. They are secured individually in the highest security cells we have. It’s my fault they escaped, really. I wanted to debase them and putting them all together in that room was a bad idea. I see that now, but I guess I let my hubris cloud my judgement.”

By this point, Sonny had realized that Carlito had not untied his hands and was making no movement to do so. He looked up at Carlito and said “Wait, you don’t think that I…”

Carlito looked at him sadly. “I don’t know what to think, mi amor,” he said. “Perhaps hubris wasn’t the only thing clouding my judgement. Chuy certainly seems to think so. And if I have learned anything in my career, it is that you should always listen to the counsel of those who have earned your trust many times over. Pretty faces will come and go, but true loyalty like his does not.”

Carlito snapped his fingers and a squad of armed men came into the room. Their guns were trained solidly on Sonny. And these were not tranquilizers. They were the real thing. Carlito said “I’m afraid our partnership has come to its end. Maybe your loyalty to me is genuine, but I cannot risk anything on that right now.” He turned to the squad leader and said “Take Agent DeLuca to the high-security cells and lock him up. Do not unbind his hands for any reason.”

The leader said, “Jefe, should we prepare a fifth…”

“No,” Carlito said, cutting the man off. “He will not share his comrades’ fate. The big boss has requested that Agent DeLuca be sent directly to him at Central Base for full deep programming.” Carlito turned to Sonny. “We have impressive resources here, but headquarters has the really good stuff. I can’t be sure that I was able to fully turn you, so I’m leaving that in the boss’ hands. If there’s still enough of your mind left when he’s done reprogramming you, maybe we can continue our tryst. But for now, I’m afraid you are my prisoner again. Take him away.”

The squad grabbed Sonny and roughly dragged him to his feet. They surrounded him and marched him out the door and into the elevator. Sonny thought about trying to fight them, but his hands were bound behind his back with the expert precision of a BNDG veteran. Even with his rigorous escape training, it would be a fool’s errand to try and free himself. Sonny stood in silent defeat as the elevator descended to a floor below the one he and his comrades had been secured in earlier. The squad leader punched in his access code and the door opened. Sonny felt the muzzle of a rifle pressed against his bare back and walked forward.

This floor was massive large room about three stories tall. It was a single open space, with cells lining the walls on the left and right sides. The cell doors were thick metal bars, possibly steel, but more likely some kind of titanium/osmium alloy. They looked like they could hold supers. As he was marched forward, he saw his four companions, each incarcerated in a different cell and spaced far apart so they couldn’t communicate. Each had their upper bodies completely immobilized by paracord harnesses and their arms behind their backs. It looks like expert precision and skill was used in their bindings. CUFF had secret techniques on a par with BNDG’s in that regard, it seemed.

As Sonny walked toward the cell that was prepared for him, he stopped in his tracks as he heard a chilling sound. It was a heavy “Whap!” followed by a deep, guttural grunt. At the far end of the room was an area that could only be described as a torture chamber. Restraint chairs against one side, and a gruesome looking operating table in the center. All sorts of wicked bladed implements hung on the walls. But it was what was on the far wall that chilled him. Chuy stood, facing the wall, stripped to the waist. His wrists were manacled to the wall with shackles so thick they almost seemed cartoonish. He was stretched to his limit and stood on his tiptoes. He shouted “75!” and a soldier in a mask raised a barbed whip and brought it crashing down on Chuy’s back.

The soldier paused and said “Please, sir, let me stop. I don’t want to…”

“No!” Chuy barked. The fact that he was speaking made this moment even more significant. “I must purge myself of my betrayal. I do this to show my loyalty to Carlito. I told you 100 and we will do 100. 76!” The whip crashed against his flesh again. Sonny winced as he was roughly pushed into his cell and the immense metal doors were closed and bolted. He tried not to listen to Chuy’s flagellation, but it was impossible not to hear. To try and take his mind off it, he scanned the main room visually. On the far end, he saw a crate the size and shape of a coffin being prepared. He knew what that was for. That would be how he was conveyed to Central HQ to have his will fully stripped away by the Big Boss of CUFF. He tried not to think about that, either.

Chuy’s penance finished a few minutes later and the massive islander was unchained from the wall. Medical officers rushed to him, but he waved them away. “I will accept no treatment,” he said. “My scars will remind me of what happens when my loyalty falters. And let them be a lesson to all of you, as well.” He picked his shirt up off the counter and held it in his hand as he walked toward the elevator to rejoin Carlito upstairs. As he walked by Sonny’s cell, he stopped for a moment. Without looking inside he said “One way or the other” and continued walking.

---

The cursor flashed on the screen. Carlito entered in his password: Sonnyboy69. Juvenile, no doubt about it, but it has been his password for quite some time now. Although with recent events unfolding as they were, he would need to change it soon. That made him a quite melancholy. But he had other things to think about right now. He waded through the various proxies and security checkpoints until he reached the special offshore account CUFF had set up for this particular purpose. The incoming funds transfer was at 97%. It had been underway for some time, but the intense level of security made it a slow process. He let it run in the background as he checked the status report from the away team. He had dispatched a special squad from Auckland on a covert mission that had not been authorized by HQ. Of course, he had the autonomy to do things like that, but this one was completely personal, so he thought it best to keep it under wraps. But he was pleased to see that the mission report detailed a complete success.

“Good,” Carlito said aloud. “Just a few more minutes and I can be rid of that obnoxious burden forever.” He watched the progress bar creep towards completion and mused about how time seemed to slow down when you were watching the clock. An old adage, but true. When the status laboriously arrived at 100% and the “transfer complete” message popped up, Carlito let out a sigh of relief. He clicked on the secondary account and deleted it. Only one more step. He radioed for a team to meet him at his office. When they arrived he said “Gentlemen, it’s time to take out the trash.”

In his suite down the hall, Prince Rupert flipped manically through the TV channels in a foul mood. It had been a full day since his tryst with Sonny and he was hungry for more. It was almost like coming down from an addiction. He needed to see him again. He would go mad if he didn’t. Repeated attempts to message Carlito and demand a repeat performance were left on “read” with no response, which infuriated him even more. When the door to his suite opened and Carlito smugly strode in, the Prince was instantly ready to give him a fierce tongue-lashing.

“It’s been a full day since I’ve heard from you!” he accused. “I am not a man it is wise to ignore, Carlito.”

Carlito smiled. It was wide and toothy, like a Cheshire Cat. “My humblest apologies, Your Highness. I did not mean to ignore you, it’s just that there has been a security incident that required my full attention. It has been handled, of course, but there was also the final negotiation with your parents to deal with.” The Prince bristled, but settled down. Those were both pressing matters, yes. He smoothed out his robe and folded his arms across his chest in a huff.

“Yes, well… fine,” he said. “But now that all that is taken care of, I wish to see Agent DeLuca. Have him brought to me. I wish to experience him again.”

“I’m afraid that won’t be possible,” Carlito said. “Apologies again to His Highness, but Sonny was unfortunately at the center of that security incident. It seems our hold on him was not as firm as we originally thought. He tried to help his comrades escape.” A bold lie, but one the Prince had no reason to doubt. “It was only through Chuy’s heroic efforts that the escape was foiled. Sonny is, at the moment, confined to a high-security cell and cannot be taken out for dalliances.”

The prince frowned. “Well,” he said. “Have him restrained and brought to me, then. His cooperation and consent are not required. In fact, not having them turns me on even more. Bring him. Now!”

Carlito took out his phone. “Of course, Your Highness,” he said. “But first you might want to see this.” He displayed the offshore account and its newly acquired massive balance. “It seems your parents have finally realized the seriousness of the situation and have wired the money we demanded. It’s all there.”

“Excellent,” the Prince said. “And I remind you that our deal still stands. If DeLuca has not been turned, he is mine, like we agreed. Transfer my share, minus the fee for his purchase, into my sub account. After I have tasted him again we will have him shipped to my private island. Now bring him quickly. I tire of this place and I want to get going as soon as possible.”

Carlito grinned again and said “Yes, your island. I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that.” Carlito opened up a photo folder and handed the phone to the prince. He petulantly opened it and his jaw dropped when he saw the pictures.

“What the hell???” he gasped. The photos were of his manor, on a private uncharted island in the South Pacific. The photos showed it swarming with CUFF agents and his security forces subdued and detained. Further photos showed a harem of young men of all stripes, all naked and fitted with collars and chains, being removed from the house. More photos showed their chains being removed and the men being given clothes and brought to a transport vehicle. “Carlito! What is the meaning of this?”

“Apologies again, Your Highness,” Carlito crooned. “But our deal has been altered. I detest slavery. Always have. I have seen some of the organizations and cartels we’ve crushed taking part in it and I’ve made it my personal mission to stamp it out. Your pleasure harem has been liberated, Your Highness.” Carlito gave a whistle and the security team rushed into the room with their tranq rifles drawn. “From what my team has told me, they are very grateful for their freedom and have offered to give tons of interesting information about you. Your Highness should really be more careful about spilling state secrets during pillow talk. It seems to be a major flaw of yours, no? You probably thought that since they had no way off the island you could brag about your schemes and your family’s enterprises without fear. Well, your confidence is quite misplaced.”

The prince’s face turned a brilliant shade of red. He looked like he was about to charge Carlito in rage, but the suave Argentine just took a casual fighting stance with a smirk on his face. “Does that make you angry, Your Highness?” he laughed. “Angry enough to attack me? Not wise with my guard here. But let’s make it sporting. Men, I order you not to interfere. If the Prince wants to test my mettle, I will be more than happy to demonstrate my prowess without your backup. What say you, whelp? Care to tussle with CUFF’s number one agent? I’ve killed trained men with just a flick of my fingers in the right spot. I’m sure you will succeed where countless others have failed.” Carlito grinned again. The prince lowered his hands and took a step back, a look of pure hatred etched on his face.

“That’s what I thought,” Carlito said with a smirk. “Now, here is the rest of our altered deal. I will be taking my increased cut of the ransom… and yours as well. We have the information about the arms deal. It’s not like you have any leverage anymore. And it isn’t like you can cry to your parents about how you were ill-used. They seem to be willing to let you back into their good graces after your harrowing abduction. I’m sure you telling them that it was your idea all along will be exactly what they want to hear. Unless you want to be cut off again, permanently this time, I suggest you just stew over your betrayal in private. I’m sure you’ll find some way to get over it. Now, let’s get you ready for transport back to Borogravia.”

The prince took another step back, but Carlito was on him with speed the prince didn’t think humanly possible. Before he could blink, Carlito pressed his finger against a nerve in his neck and waves of agony rippled through his body. His limbs became limp and useless. Carlito caught him before he collapsed and gently lowered him to the floor. As he began to skillfully bind the prince’s hands behind his back with the same paracord the BNDG agents were restrained with, Carlito leaned in and gave the prince’s earlobe a sultry lick. “You said something about how lack of cooperation and consent turns you on even more,” he whispered. “I am tempted to make you reconsider that statement. But I am not like you, you spoiled little worm. I will not take what isn’t freely offered. And even if you did freely offer it, you aren’t worth my sweat. I would have to take several showers to get your stink off mi poronga.”

Carlito stood up and walked away from the prince, turning his back to his (now for-real) prisoner. “Men,” he said to the squad, “Since he was so eager to have Agent DeLuca crated and flown freight to his now-defunct pleasure island, let’s see how he enjoys similar accommodations back to Borogravia. Some of you were among the men who brought DeLuca here from Las Vegas, no? See that His Lowness receives the same care and attention. Goodbye, Rupert. CUFF thanks you for your assistance and we will make good use of your manor as our new South Seas headquarters. I am looking forward to a tropical getaway once this mission is over. Take him away!”

The prince struggled and writhed as much as his paralyzed nerves would allow as the squad picked him up and tossed him over their shoulders like a peasant. “This isn’t over, Carlito!” he screamed as they carried him from the suite. “I’ll get you for this! I swear it!”

“I’m sure,” Carlito said dismissively. He waved the squad away and they disappeared into the hall. Carlito dialed housekeeping on his phone. “Eva, my sweet,” he said. “We need to fumigate the guest lodgings. There’s a stench in here that I wish to expunge. In fact, we’re going to replace the furniture and all the décor. I can’t stand to look at anything he’s touched. You and your girls can take whatever you fancy for yourselves. We’ll donate the rest to the foundlings’ home in BA.” Carlito left the room without looking back.

---

Back in the cells, Sonny had tried to get some sleep, but the dread of his immediate future prevented him from getting any rest. The agonizing tightness of the ropes surrounding his body didn’t bother him anymore. He was used to that by now. It was the looming loss of his free will that weighed on him. He had expected Carlito to use some sort of mind control when he was captured, and had been training to resist it for some time before this mission, but he was surprised when that didn’t happen. He remembered the mysterious buzzing sound while he was chained to the X-frame, but he felt no assault on his mind while it played. Perhaps his training was enough to completely resist it with no evidence it was even attempted?

But that wasn’t the only thing on his mind. The fact that he couldn’t see his comrades in their respective cells from where he was confined also troubled him. Damn them! He knew what was in store for him, but not knowing what their fates would be made things even worse. They way Carlito talked… He cursed again. They should have left when they had the chance. Said “screw Chuy” and escaped. They could have reported back to BNDG with the location of this place and an assault squad could have taken it down. But he understood why they didn’t. BNDG didn’t leave men behind. Williams talked about completing his mission for him, but that wasn’t the real reason. It was because he couldn’t leave a fellow agent in captivity. Even somewhat willing captivity. So honorable. And look at where it got them. Sonny wondered if he’d even remember them once the Big Boss was done turning his brain into pudding. Would he remember Mike and Cole… or Craig? He had cut things off with Craig abruptly after his “recruitment” into BNDG and Craig didn’t seem to take it well. If, by some chance, he managed to get out of this, he would have to seek him out again and make amends. If.

Sonny’s woolgathering was cut short when he heard the sound of activity in the large central portion of the prison. It was late at night by now, so whatever Carlito’s men were doing was presumably being readied for tomorrow. He got up and walked to the bars of his cell to watch. A scaffolding, about 15 feet across and ten feet high, was being erected in the center of the room. A single staircase on one side allowed access to the top of the platform. Men swarmed around it like ants, reinforcing the supports. After it was complete, he saw four tall and wide poles being connected to the back of the platform at evenly spaced intervals. Each pole had a single crossbar at the top, facing forward, that jutted out about 6 feet. It looked like a streetlight pole, but instead of a traffic signal, each beam had a metal ring at the end. Sonny stepped back in horror when he realized what the edifice’s purpose was.

A man on a ladder threaded a thick rope through the ring of each beam. One end hung limply down and dangled above the floor of the platform, but the other end was cinched and anchored to a rope cleat on the side of the pole. When all four were similarly threaded, the ladder was removed and a worker went to each dangling end. They began to manipulate the rope, but Sonny couldn’t see what they were doing as their backs were to him. In fact, the entire thing seemed to be done for his benefit. The structure faced his cell directly, even though that made it off-center from the rest of the chamber. Whatever was planned for that platform, he would have a front-row view of it. When the men finished what they were doing, Sonny already knew what he would see. But that didn’t make it any easier to accept. He lowered his head and turned, going back to his bunk as the workers collected their tools and left the scaffold.

Behind him, suspended ominously from the crossbeams, were four nooses.

Coming Soon: Chapter 12 - Tremens Factus Sum Ego, et Timeo, Dum Discussio Venerit, Atque Ventura Ira

Re: The Bureau of National Defense and Government [M/M] [new chapter 3/4/23]

Posted: Sun Mar 05, 2023 7:11 am
by Guardianbound
The next chapter is going to be intense!! Is Sonny going to save his fellow agents or is he too far gone in his programming? Maybe big boss is in the villains league and has access to the hypnotron. I do hope we get to see the Prince again in the future, perhaps he could make good on his promise to get back at Carlito, that would be quite the scene.

Re: The Bureau of National Defense and Government [M/M] [new chapter 3/4/23]

Posted: Sun Mar 05, 2023 2:22 pm
by Red86
Damn, this has been an interesting story with twist after twist. Though I'm not surprised having read your other story!

I can't predict the ending to this but I don't think it'll end the way its currently leading us. Suspense is a killer but I'm looking forward to seeing how this unfolds!!

Re: The Bureau of National Defense and Government [M/M] [new chapter 3/4/23]

Posted: Sun Mar 05, 2023 9:45 pm
by Volobond
Twists upon twists indeed! How, and indeed, will Sonny get out of this bind, if you'll pardon the phrasing?

Excitement abounds!

Re: The Bureau of National Defense and Government [M/M] [new chapter 3/4/23]

Posted: Mon Mar 06, 2023 3:56 am
by gag1195
I'm also sitting at the edge of my seat, and trying to figure out who all the BNDG Agents escape! Especially through those special ropes and knots!

Re: The Bureau of National Defense and Government [M/M] [new chapter 3/4/23]

Posted: Mon Mar 06, 2023 12:18 pm
by KidnappedCowboy
I suspect some very tough choices for Sonny ahead.

Glad to see that Carlito has some code of ethics...perhaps he may turn... ;)

And so glad the Prince is getting his comeuppance! You may not have described him so...but I picture him similar to a prince now residing in California who is in bad need of a comeuppance! :x :x :x :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

Re: The Bureau of National Defense and Government [M/M] [new chapter 3/4/23]

Posted: Wed Mar 08, 2023 12:36 pm
by Bootmark
I finally go caught up on this one. I am amazed by the intrigue here. Who to trust? Who not to trust?
Who really is good? Who really is bad? And lots of great bondage. Can't wait for the next installment!

Re: The Bureau of National Defense and Government [M/M] [new chapter 3/4/23]

Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2023 1:35 am
by tiedtarzan
Nice job!

Re: The Bureau of National Defense and Government [M/M] [new chapter 3/4/23]

Posted: Thu Mar 16, 2023 3:27 am
by that1kid13
Well that got dark fast haha love it tho (:

Re: The Bureau of National Defense and Government [M/M] [new chapter 3/4/23]

Posted: Fri Mar 17, 2023 7:09 pm
by wataru14

CHAPTER 12 - Tremens Factus Sum Ego, et Timeo, Dum Discussio Venerit, Atque Ventura Ira

Once the scaffolding was erected, there was little activity in the main room. The workers left, leaving only the night guards. There were five high-profile prisoners, but they were locked in cells designed to hold supers. And while they were skilled, they were all baselines. Not much they could do, locked up tight and severely bound with high-tech CUFF paracord. Only a skeleton crew was on duty, but they would be elites. Their training and skill would make up for their lack of numbers. Sonny definitely had his work cut out for him.

He laid on the bunk of his cell, feigning sleep. The impossibly tight cords were cutting into his bare flesh. His arms and wrists had gone slightly numb. All he felt was a dull tingle. The cords had resisted any attempt to saw through them against the edge of the bunk and he had long given up on attempting to slip them. That simply wasn’t going to happen. Whatever came next, he wouldn’t have the use of his hands. It was a huge handicap, but he had to overcome it. Five lives hung in the balance.

He watched the guards through half-closed eyes. There were three of them. Two of them stayed in the guard booth behind the scaffold while one did rounds of the cellblock, walking the perimeter a few times before heading back to the booth and switching out. There was always one in the room at all times. He looked at the lock plate on the door of his cell. Totally smooth from this side. No way to pick it without reaching out through the bars and trying from the other side. That would be spotted immediately, even if he had the use of his hands. If he was going to get out of this cell, he would need to have the guard open the door. And there was only one way to do that.

Sonny waited for the guard to pass his cell on rounds. The guards made a point to stop and inspect each occupied cell to make sure that the prisoners were sleeping. They would look for any suspicious change in the prisoners’ position and would radio for backup if anything was amiss. Sonny had to time it perfectly. As soon as the guard had deemed his cell acceptable and moved on, Sonny quietly slipped out of bed. He was glad he was barefoot when Williams had him tranqued. It made it easier to move silently. He crept to the front corner of the cell and pressed his back into it. He did a quick hop and dug his heels into the wall on either side of the corner. Using all the strength in his powerful leg muscles, Sonny walked up the wall until he was almost at the ceiling.

“This would be so much easier if I had the use of my hands,” Sonny thought. “Thanks, Williams.” He felt the strain on his legs as he pushed with all his might to keep his position against the corner. The burn was unimaginable. “This is what I get for skipping leg day,” Sonny thought, chuckling to himself. Thankfully, he only had to hold this position for a short time. When the guard came around for his next cell sweep, he saw the bed empty. He shined his flashlight around the room, going right for the toilet first, but Sonny was completely hidden where he was. Sonny held his breath. Everything hinged on what the guard did next.

The guard grabbed his radio and said “Situation in Cell 14. Backup requested. I’m going in.” The guard used his keycard to open the door and stepped in, gun drawn. Sonny only had seconds to act before reinforcements arrived. He let the guard take two steps into the cell. The guard was about to look in his direction when Sonny pushed off the wall and dropped on him. With the stealth of a ninja, Sonny wrapped his legs around the man’s waist and used his body weight to force him to the ground. Before the guard could cry out, his head smashed into the edge of the bunk, knocking him out cold. Sonny quickly jumped to his feet.

He already heard the other two guards running over. He wouldn’t be able to fight both of them in cramped quarters like this. He had to get out of the cell before they got there. He did a tuck-and-roll and tumbled out into the open area an instant before they rounded the corner of the scaffold. He landed on his feet in a crouch position a nanosecond before they noticed him. Before either guard could raise their guns or grab their radios, Sonny rushed at them. With his arms and wrists tightly restrained, he would be at a disadvantage, but he wasn’t worried. He had been well-trained. Sonny remembered that training. Back when he was a cocky new recruit…

---

Sonny reached down and helped his fallen sparring partner up off the mat. He owed the guy that much after the humiliating whooping he had just given the poor bastard. His opponent was supposed to be the best BNDG had to offer and Sonny had beaten him like a bongo drum. He was getting bored with the lack of decent competition. Wasn’t there anyone who could give him a real challenge? He wiped the sweat off his bare chest with a towel as his opponent turned and headed to the showers. He was beginning to think that BNDG’s reputation was a little undeserved.

“You did good out there,” Williams said, coming over. “Good technique. But you tend to favor your left side. It’s a weakness an enemy could exploit. We’ll have to work on that.”

Sonny shrugged. He said “I just hope CUFF gives me more of a challenge than the strip-mall karate dojo crew you’ve got here. I’ve been in tougher fights in middle school.”

Williams frowned. “You’re good, kid, but not THAT good,” he said. “Cockiness can help you to an extent, but if you let yourself get blinded by ego, you’re as good as dead in the field. There’s always someone better out there.” Sonny just scoffed. Better? Not likely.

Williams got right up in Sonny’s face. “You think you’re hot shit,” Williams said. “Like you’re untouchable. But CUFF chews up and spits out guys like you. If you go into missions thinking you’re unbeatable, you’re going to be in for a rude awakening. They love to capture and torture cocky young studs like you. And once they’ve got you, you won’t stand a chance.”

Sonny smirked and said “Save your breath, old man. I’m not worried. Hell, even if I did get captured they’d never be able to hold me.”

Williams had heard bragging like this before. “Oh, you think so?” he said. “Well, Mr. Tough Guy, let’s see for ourselves. Let’s see how well you’d do if you got captured.” He walked away and went over to where the training equipment was stored, against the far wall of the training gym. He selected a jumprope of just the right length and removed the handles. Williams folded and prepared the rope in his hands as he made his way back to Sonny, who stood with his hands on his hips like he was bored. “CUFF has restraint skills that rival our own,” Williams said. “Virtually escape-proof. If you are captured, you will be bound pretty much the whole time. That severely limits your options in combat. So let’s see how you would do. You’re such a phenom, it shouldn’t slow you down at all, right?”

Sonny rolled his eyes and said, “Sure. Whatever you say, gramps.” He turned his back to Williams and crossed his wrists behind his back. Williams got to work binding Sonny’s wrists. He wrapped the rope tightly around them and back through themselves in a complicated pattern. He used all of BNDG’s special restraint tricks. Sonny’s bravado slipped a little as the rope drew tighter. He knew this knot from restraint class. It was designed to tighten at the slightest provocation. If he tried to slip the rope or struggle, it would contract and bind him more securely. Williams had said it was a favorite of CUFF’s. There was a way to beat it, but it was too advanced a method for rookies. They would only learn it once they were deemed ready.

Williams tied off the last knot and stepped back. “How’s that feel?” he said. Without thinking, Sonny squirmed a little and tested his bonds. He let out a small grunt as the rope tightened in response. Williams chuckled. “All that swagger and you don’t have the self-control to block knee-jerk reactions like that,” he said. “Maybe that will teach you to focus and not boast so much.”

Sonny turned around and flexed his arms and pecs as much as the ropes would allow. Williams had walked away and taken off his own shirt. He placed it on the floor at the edge of the mat and walked back over to Sonny. “Are we gonna talk all day, old man, or are we gonna fight?” he said.

Williams smirked. “Come at me, bro!” he said, and assumed a defensive stance. Sonny charged and attempted a kick, but Williams effortlessly sidestepped and used Sonny’s own momentum to send him crashing to the ground. He didn’t even break a sweat. Sonny hopped to his feet and tried again, this time going for a shoulder tackle. But Williams was ready. He again dodged and caught Sonny with a knee to the gut. He also grabbed Sonny’s arms and wiggled them, causing his wrists to move and make the ropes tighten even further. Sonny coughed and dropped to his knees.

“Hey! That’s not fair!” he cried. “Dirty cheater!”

Williams scoffed and said “CUFF will do far worse. If you can’t even handle that, they’ll make mincemeat out of you, you cocky bastard.” Sonny, just as Williams expected, rose to the insult and attacked again. But he was repelled and countered easily. Again and again and again. After 30 minutes, he was a panting, quivering heap on the mat and Williams still looked like a million bucks. “You done yet, rookie?” he smirked.

Sonny got up. “Big talk, old man,” he spat. “It’s easy to gloat when your opponent is tied up like a hog. But I bet you wouldn’t do so well if the roles were reversed.”

“You think so?” Williams smirked. “Flannery! Get over here!” Williams’ assistant trainer, a tough-as-nails Marine reaching middle age, walked over. He was a total hardass and Sonny didn’t like him much. But he respected the hell out of Williams. Jumped at every command the old fart gave. Williams undid the ropes binding Sonny’s wrists with the same speed and skill he had applied them. Flannery stood at attention as Sonny was released and held out his hand to accept the ropes once Williams had finished.

Williams said “This probie thinks he knows his shit. Well, I’m going to show him how much he still needs to learn.” Williams turned to Flannery and cross his wrists behind him. “Give me the Lucchesi Treatment.”

“Sir?” Flannery said, slightly alarmed.

“You heard me,” Williams said. Flannery just gave a “Yes, sir!” and got to work. The Lucchesi Method was named for a rather brutal mafia don from back in the day who used to employ a particularly nasty rope technique on his prisoners. BNDG had managed to crack it back in the 1930s, but it was only used in extreme cases with Class-A threats. Only the upper echelons even knew how to do it. Sonny had heard about it, whispered by the recruits during restraint and escape class, but had never seen it. He thought it was just an urban legend.

Flannery was a machine. He applied the rope to Williams’ wrists, arms, chest, and throat. Every loop, every twist, tightened the entire ensemble. Sonny could see the discoloration on Williams’ flesh from the severity of the ropes. It looked like even breathing was difficult. Flannery worked so fast Sonny couldn’t get a full view of his technique, but it resembled the self-tightening knots that BNDG used in its normal setups. Only a hundred times worse. But the most horrible part was the loops around Williams’ throat. They were tight and snug, and interconnected with the rest of the bindings. If he moved his upper body at all, he would choke himself. If he moved suddenly and hard enough, he could crush his windpipe.

Flannery finished his ropework and stepped back, saying “It’s done, sir!”

Williams circled Sonny on the mat and said “OK, hotshot, I’m tied ten times worse than you were. And I’ll still kick your cocky ass. Come at me!”

Sonny stepped back. “I’m not going to fight you like that,” he said. “I could kill you.”

“Suit yourself,” Williams said. He crouched and lept into the air, doing a thrusting sidekick that nailed Sonny in the chest and sent him reeling. He landed on his feet like a cat. His torso had not moved a centimeter. “If you won’t attack, you sure as hell better defend!”

Williams unloaded a flurry of weelkicks and front snap kicks with a speed Sonny didn’t think possible. He was barely able to keep up and was being pelted on all sides from the older man’s relentless barrage. How old was this guy? In his 50’s? Maybe older? Did they give him some kind of supersoldier serum or something? Sonny managed to evade the onslaught and counterattack, but Williams either dodged or parried Sonny’s strikes with a high kick. And all the time, his upper body remained immobile. Not just because of the excruciatingly tight rope harness that bound it, but because of Williams’ intense focus and mental discipline. No matter what Sonny did, he couldn’t land a blow on his mentor. He had long since given up any pretext of holding back for fear of hurting Williams, and was now fighting for his life.

Sonny had no idea how long they had been fighting, but he was getting tired. Williams, however, was fresh as a daisy. He did a standing armless cartwheel past Sonny and transitioned to a blindingly fast leg sweep when he landed. Sonny went down hard on his back and Williams pounced on him. He held his knee over Sonny’s throat. One wrong move and the older man could crush his windpipe like a grape. “Yield!” Williams said.

“I yield,” Sonny panted. Williams got off of him and stepped back. Flannery immediately ran over and began the laborious process of undoing the sadistic rope prison that entombed Williams’ arms and torso. Sonny meekly got up off the mat, scowling.

“You’re skilled,” Williams said, “but CUFF is on a whole other level. Carlito and Chuy are like nothing you’ve ever seen.” Sonny stood in rapt attention. He had always thought of Williams as an over-the-hill fogey who was teaching because he couldn’t make it in the field anymore, but this encounter had changed his entire perception. A profound respect for the man filled him. Williams seemed to notice this change in Sonny and altered his tone as Flannery continued to untether him. “Your technique was sloppy. You rely too much on your arms. If you’re going to be in the field soon, we have to make sure you are able to defend yourself in suboptimal conditions. Bound fighting will be the bulk of your combat training moving forward. You might think I’m being overly cautious, but it will save your life one day.”

---

That lesson stuck with Sonny. He remembered everything Williams had taught him about fighting while bound. How to maintain your balance. How to utilize your feet and legs to their max potential. He wasn’t bound with the Lucchesi Treatment like Williams had been, but it was only a few hairs down from that. The strain on his arms and wrists was intense. But he fought on. He had to. It was the only way they’d get out alive.

Sonny did a spinning wheelkick that connected hard with the first guard’s head. The man crumpled to the floor, knocked out. The second guard reached for his gun. Sonny saw something out of the corner of his eye and nodded. It was a Hail Mary, but it was the only option he had left. If that guard managed to line up and fire, no amount of training would save him. Sonny bellowed, charged, and landed a solid double-footed dropkick into the guard’s chest. The man dropped his gun and staggered backwards, right into the bars of the cell across. Williams’ legs shot through the gap in the bars like a rocket and connected solidly with the guard’s shins. His balance taken out, he crashed face-first to the concrete floor, knocking him out with a sickening “crack.”

Sonny got up off the floor and walked over to Williams’ cell. “You remembered my lessons,” the grizzled veteran said with a smile.

“I learned from the best,” Sonny said. He stuck his bare foot in the guard’s pocket and fished for his keycard. “How’d I do, Mr. Miyagi?”

“You still favor your left side,” Williams chuckled. “But we can work on that back at HQ. Now let’s get the hell out of here.”

Sonny found the keycard and tossed it in the air with his foot. He caught it in his teeth and held it over the card reader plate in the wall. Williams’ cell opened and the door retreated into its groove it the wall. He said “The doors opening will definitely trigger some sort of alert. We have to hurry.” Sonny nodded and ran to the other cells, releasing Malik, Rhett, and Pahn.

Rhett beamed with happiness. He said “I knew you didn’t turn, brother.”

Williams interrupted. “Let’s not all start sucking his cock just yet,” he said. “We still have to get out of this compound.”

“And don’t forget that we’re all still tied,” Pahn said. The egg on his face was palpable, but Sonny decided not to gloat.

“That’s not going to change until we’re clear,” Sonny said. “It will take too long to get out of these ropes and time is one thing we don’t have. The prince is long gone by now, but I have the info on the arms deal. Unfortunately, so does Carlito. If we can take him out, great, but getting that data back to BNDG headquarters is our top concern.” The others all nodded.

Malik said “Williams, you’re the ranking officer, we’ll follow you.” Sonny nodded. This was his mission, but there was no place for wounded pride right now. He had learned long ago that wisdom served you better than Alpha bullshit when the chips were down.

Williams said “Did anyone get to see the access codes these goons typed in when they brought us in here?” Malik raised his eyebrows and looked hurt. “Of course you did. Excellent. Now let’s get moving!” The team ran for the elevator and Malik punched in the access code with his nose. The doors slowly opened.

But the elevator wasn’t unoccupied. Before Malik could blink, Carlito socked him in the chest with a palm strike, knocking the wind out of him and sending him staggering back. The CUFF leader had clearly been woken from sleep by the cell alert. He was clad only in pajama bottoms and his normally perfect hair was matted and flat. “Sorry you don’t get to see me at my best,” he chirped as he stepped out of the elevator in a fighting stance. “But it’s no matter. It’s the last thing you five will ever see. I tire of games. Time to end this decisively.”

Coming Soon: Chapter 13 – The Lucchesi Method


I mentioned this in TUG, but I will do it here, as well. I start first tech week for my show Monday, so I won't be able to get any writing done until we open. So the next chapter will be slightly delayed.

Re: The Bureau of National Defense and Government [M/M] [new chapter 3/17/23]

Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2023 12:37 pm
by KidnappedCowboy
I mentioned this in TUG, but I will do it here, as well. I start first tech week for my show Monday, so I won't be able to get any writing done until we open. So the next chapter will be slightly delayed.
After the adrenaline rush of this last chapter, we may need a breather before reading what happens next! :!: :!:

The Lucchesi Treatment is intriguing! A Renaissance Florentine torture device on prisoners? Or an Italian partisan technique on Germans? :?:

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, I want more of Flannery! :twisted: :twisted:

Re: The Bureau of National Defense and Government [M/M] [new chapter 3/17/23]

Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2023 5:25 pm
by Volobond
Oh. How exciting! Being perfectly honest, I've alwayd wanted to see a male secret agent in a movie attack with acrobatic moves and style the way Hollywood tends to reserve for their secret agent women, and it's just as awesome as I thought! Wheelkicks, leaps, poweful muscle control - and all while bound! Lord have mercy, I'm 'bout to bust!

Re: The Bureau of National Defense and Government [M/M] [new chapter 3/17/23]

Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2023 8:19 pm
by Guardianbound
Do I sense Carlito being placed in ropes again very soon?

And Williams really knows his stuff! Having none of the cocksure Sonny of the past. I like how we get to see how all of the training from Williams is paying dividends for Sonny throughout the story

Re: The Bureau of National Defense and Government [M/M] [new chapter 3/17/23]

Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2023 9:32 pm
by Volobond
In addition... is this Flannery a certain Major we all know and are wary of because of his treatment of his children??? Or perhaps a relative - they are a military family...

Re: The Bureau of National Defense and Government [M/M] [new chapter 3/17/23]

Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2023 9:51 pm
by wataru14
Volobond wrote: 1 year ago In addition... is this Flannery a certain Major we all know and are wary of because of his treatment of his children??? Or perhaps a relative - they are a military family...
As Bugs Bunny said... "Mmmmmmm, could beeeeee"

Re: The Bureau of National Defense and Government [M/M] [new chapter 3/17/23]

Posted: Sun Mar 19, 2023 2:24 pm
by gag1195
I'm glad to see I was wrong about Sonny. As it appears, he is on BNDG's side after all. I hope this isn't a quadruple? quintuple? cross. And of course, Sonny proves to be very adept at escaping and fighting. He's very creative in his ideas. I wonder if Carlito will offer Sonny a fair chance and allow him to fight unbound?

Re: The Bureau of National Defense and Government [M/M] [new chapter 3/17/23]

Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2023 3:44 pm
by wataru14

CHAPTER 13 – The Lucchesi Method

The five BNDG members backed up and fanned out, surrounding Carlito on all sides. They had the advantage of numbers, but each was cruelly and securely bound from the waist up. Their arms were uselessly fettered behind their backs and their chests were constrictively wrapped in CUFF’s special polymer ropes. This severely lessened their advantage. Against a normal man, it would have been a minor inconvenience, but they were squaring off against Carlito himself: CUFF’s Number Two man and a fighter of legendary skill. Sonny had bested him before, more than once, but it was always aided by subterfuge – a spiked drink here, an unseen injection there… only once had he managed to take Carlito down in a straight battle, and he always suspected that Carlito had let him win that time. With his entire scheme unravelling before his eyes, Carlito would not be so generous this time.

The five advanced in concert, attacking as one unit. Malik and Pahn going for leg sweeps to take out Carlito’s balance while Rhett served as a distraction and Sonny and Williams went for high kicks. Williams had trained them to take any advantage they could and to keep their attacks coordinated and simultaneous when fighting with a numbers advantage. Under no circumstances were they to wait and fight one-at-a-time. He called that “B-Movie Ninja School Bullshit.” Swarming a foe was called dishonorable by more than one white-hat recruit over the years, but Williams had always said “Do I look like a fucking samurai to you? Honor gets you killed in this business.” And the five took his words to heart.

As for Carlito, he was no stranger to dishonorable tactics and dirty tricks. He moved like he was made of water, bobbing and dodging each kick and shoulder tackle with ease. He moved with a fluid grace that impressed even Williams, bending his body and evading strikes like he was in the Matrix. As spectators, the five agents would have thought it was a thing of exquisite beauty. But when seeing it used against them in a fight for their very lives, they had no time to be appreciative of the skill in Carlito’s movements. And Carlito was not only on the defensive. He was a master at redirection and using his foes’ own momentum against them. He would leap over a leg sweep and counter with a wicked wheel kick that would send his attacker staggering. He would catch a charge in mid-run and turn his foe just slightly enough to send him hurdling at his allies, scattering them. If he did engage someone mano-a-mano temporarily, his arms moved in a lightning-fast blur of parries and counterstrikes. Sonny hated to admit it, but they were losing. Even five on one, they were losing. And Carlito wasn’t even sweating.

The group’s advantage was lessened to four on one when Carlito did a rising knee strike that caught Rhett square in the face. There was a sickening crunch as Rhett’s nose was broken and he collapsed backwards, landing flat on his back in a stunned daze. The remaining four shifted their positions to steer Carlito away from their fallen comrade. Rhett was still alive, but his K.O.ed body would be more of an obstacle for them than Carlito if he was laying in the middle of the battlefield. Williams and Sonny went in for a coordinated barrage of kicks, but Carlito cartwheeled away to safety, moving the fight farther into the open area of the room. When he landed in a catlike crouch, he hurled a barrage of shuriken from the pocket of his pajama pants at his pursuing antagonists. One hit Pahn in the shoulder.

The projectile was hurled with incredible precision and made contact with a key nerve. A surgeon couldn’t have been more precise. Pahn felt a wave of agony ripple through his body and dropped to the floor, spasming, as his nerves all backfired at once. He would be unable to fight unless someone dislodged the projectile from his body, but none of his allies had the time to do so. Another caught Malik in the arm as it whizzed past, causing a superficial cut, but thankfully no more damage. The other shuriken harmlessly sailed past Sonny and Williams and embedded in the wall behind them. Out of the corner of his eye, Sonny saw the four-pointed blade jutting out from the wall at waist height and saw an opportunity. He looked at Williams and Malik and the three shared a moment of silent understanding. Sonny did a backward roll to avoid a knifehand strike by Carlito and sprang to his feet. He turned and ran for the wall as Williams and Malik charged at Carlito like berserkers.

They circled Carlito and did hit-and-move strikes to keep him off guard. Trying to divert his attention and steer the fight away from Sonny. And it seemed to be working. Sonny hurried to where the blade of the shuriken jutted out from the wall and turned around. He felt for the blade with his fingers, careful to not prick himself in case there was some sort of drug or poison coated on the blade. When he found it, he put the ropes binding his wrists up against the blade and started rubbing. He had no idea if the blade would be able to cut the advanced polymer, but it was his only chance. He needed to get free so he could face Carlito on somewhat equal terms. He desperately moved his wrists up and down against the blade, hoping for a miracle. And it came. After a few moments, he felt the rope fraying until it finally split. Using all the escape tactics he learned at BNDG, Sonny slipped his wrists from the rope. His hands now free, he attacked the knots that held the bonds around his torso together. It was a complex and intricate rope job and it would take time to undo. Time they didn’t have. He steeled his mid and got to work.

Sonny finally managed to extricate himself from the ropes just in time. A jump kick from Carlito hit Malik square in the chest and sent him crashing against the wall. His head hit the bars of a nearby cell and he slumped to the floor, knocked out. It was just Williams and Carlito now. And as good as the old man was, he wouldn’t last long by himself. But, thankfully, he didn’t need to. Sonny got low and did a running tackle towards Carlito. His bare chest was red with welts and covered with indentations from where the impossibly tight ropes had bound him, but he didn’t care. This was a fight he couldn’t lose. Williams got out of the way as Sonny barreled in like a crazed Norse god. He fired off a haymaker that would have taken Carlito’s head clean off if it connected, but the nimble Argentine danced clear of the blow.

“Ah!” Carlito said, a smile coming to his face. “Now here is a real challenge. The last time we met in even combat you managed to get the upper hand. Or maybe I let you win, eh? It doesn’t matter. Today’s outcome will not be the same.” Sonny shot Williams a look that said “Help the others. I’ll handle this.” Williams nodded and ran to Malik to begin freeing him from his bonds. Carlito and Sonny squared off.

“We don’t have to do this, mi hermoso,” Carlito said as he and Sonny circled each other. “I would hate to kill you. All you have to do is submit. Then the Big Boss will truly make you one of us. Then we can be together for real. Sounds wonderful, no? And I’ll even spare your friends. I admit I may have misstepped with the whole gallows thing. But I had to make a point, didn’t I? They have impressive skills, themselves. We could convert them, too, and make you five an elite unit under my command. CUFF would be unstoppable.” Each statement was punctuated with a kick or strike, but neither fighter could pierce the other’s defenses.

“You keep talking,” Sonny said, “But all I hear is ‘blah blah blah.’ It’s over, Carlito. Once I beat you, me and the guys are getting out of this crazy place and going home. BNDG will stop that arms deal. You’ve lost.”

“Have I?” Carlito smirked. “It seems your entire plan hinges on you defeating me. You think you can? Well let’s see!”

Sonny knew that Carlito was a talker. That he would babble and taunt to distract his focus. An effective technique, but one he had to ignore. He also knew that Carlito’s style was based on defense and redirection. While deadly on the offense, he preferred to let opponents come to him and use their own momentum against them. Sonny would have to plan his strikes accordingly and wait for rare openings. The two circled each other a few times, neither wanting to make the first move.

“You hesitate,” Carlito said. “Maybe you’ve learned not to be so impulsive. Or maybe something in you doesn’t want to win. Being my prisoner wasn’t so bad, no? Think of it. You serving me. Bound at my feet. Getting let out for missions but always returning to my side like a loyal attack dog. Then to my bed when your mission is complete? It is an attractive thought, isn’t it? Together. With me…”

Sonny, despite his focus, paused. It was a very compelling thought. Part of him did want that. Or the reverse. Or some combination of the two. He was nearly mesmerized by Carlito’s tone and words. He felt a strange compulsion. An irresistible desire. It reminded him of what Adamson had said the prince would feel for him. Shit! That’s it! Carlito is to me what I am to the prince! We’re bonded in desire. Almost on a genetic level. And it seems to be mutual. It explains why neither was ever truly able to finish the other off and why they had let each other go so many times before. Could they ever truly fight each other?

Williams had freed Malik after quite some effort, and the two of them raced away from the circling fighters towards Pahn, who was still writing and spasming on the floor. Malik carefully removed the shuriken from Pahn’s shoulder, taking the pressure off his nerve. Williams touched him in several key places around his body and the involuntary shudders stopped. Then the two began the laborious process of undoing the ropes that bound him.

Sonny saw an opening as Carlito shifted his eyes sideways for a second to see Williams and Malik at work. He launched a precision palm strike that connected square with Carlito’s bare chest. But he felt himself involuntarily pull the punch ever so slightly. Something in him would not let him connect with full force. No matter how he tried, he couldn’t. It was almost an innate, primal instinct. Carlito noticed it, too. “So you’ve figured it out,” he said. “Took you long enough. As beautiful as you are, you were never blessed with great brainpower. We are a pair. Two sides of the same being. Us fighting each other is pointless. Why, then, should we not be together?” Carlito lept forward and nailed Sonny in the ribs with a fast jab. And Sonny noticed how Carlito held back. It wasn’t a conscious decision, it was Carlito’s own body refusing to connect with full power.

By now Williams and Malik had completely freed Pahn. Malik stayed with him to make sure that he was OK while Williams raced to Rhett, still howling from his broken nose. Williams grabbed it and forced it back into place, making Rhett howl more in blinding agony. Sonny winced at the sound and Carlito dove on him. “We’ll have to remove that damnable empathy from you when we do the full conditioning,” Carlito said. “It makes you weak.” They rolled over each other and wrestled for dominance as Williams began to free Rhett from his bonds, their muscles straining as they locked grips. Sonny was far stronger, but that didn’t matter much against a man like Carlito.

“You’re trying to get in my head,” Sonny grunted as he grappled with Carlito. “But it won’t work. I resisted your mind control before. You tried to mess with my head and turn me, but it didn’t work. And empathy isn’t a weakness. It’s actually my greatest strength. And it’s a shame you can’t see that.”

Carlito smiled. “You think we were trying to turn you the other day?” he smirked. “That’s adorable. No, mi hermoso, that wasn’t what the hypnosis was for. We did something far worse. Normally I’m not one to avoid using dirty tactics, but that particular ace I wanted to keep in the deck for when all looked lost. Now it seems I have no choice. Your friends are almost all free and soon they will join this fight. And they do not have the same bond with me as you do. It will be for real. So I must use my ‘nuke,’ so to speak, and take you out of the equation.” Sonny scrunched his brow in confusion for a moment. What was Carlito talking about? He tried to wrestle Carlito into a sleeper hold, but froze in mid grapple as Carlito whispered the word “Temaukel.”

Sonny was completely paralyzed. His muscles refused to obey him. He was frozen in place as if made of stone. Carlito wriggled free from his grasp and stood up, panting heavily. He said “That is what we did to you. Implanted a killswitch, in a manner of speaking. Your body was conditioned to go into torpor upon hearing that word from my voice. The name of the god of the native people of the Pampas. Dishonorable, yes, but I have never been the honorable sort, have I?” Sonny tried to speak, but even the muscles around his larynx were paralyzed. He could breathe, but only through a supreme act of will and concentration. “It will require all your focus to maintain control of your breathing. Slip and your diaphragm will seize, as well. Very nasty. Think of this as my own version of the ‘Lucchesi Method.’ It feels very similar, no? Making your prisoner remain utterly still to avoid them choking themselves in their bondage? I’m quite proud of its deviousness.”

Sonny’s arms jutted out awkwardly in the incomplete sleeper hold position. It was almost comical. He steeled his mind, focusing on nothing but maintaining the pace and depth of his breathing. His awareness zeroed in on that, ignoring all else. He knew such a hypnotic compulsion couldn’t be permanent, but he had no idea how long it would last. He had to maintain control and trust in his comrades. Carlito smiled in triumph as he watched the interplay of emotions surging through Sonny. But he didn’t have time to gloat. The other four BNDG agents had gotten back to their feet and were advancing quickly.

“I could tell you to stop or I will kill Sonny,” Carlito said, “But by now you know that is an empty threat. I’m sure Malik and Williams already figured that out long ago. Williams might even have known it from the start. But it is no matter. I can still take the four of you on without a hostage.”

Sonny knew Carlito was right. The four may have had a chance if they were fresh, but after three days of being bound mercilessly tightly and barely given any food, none were in any shape to face him. He had to do something. But how? He could feel the numbness in his limbs. He could feel how hard it was to maintain enough concentration to even breathe. Williams would stand the best chance, but even with the other three assisting him, the grizzled veteran wouldn’t last long against Carlito. Sonny had to free himself from his paralysis. He focused his mind, closing his eyes to shut out the combat happening just a few feet away.

He thought of Pahn’s new baby, that he had never even seen. He thought of how he never would unless Sonny intervened. He thought of Cole and Mike and Craig, wherever they were, and how CUFF would come for them next. Either to try to recruit them or to hold them as leverage in case Sonny’s upcoming conditioning didn’t hold. He thought of the people of the world, and the suffering that would be unleashed if CUFF got to the arms deal before he could get the information to BNDG. With his will and determination focused to a laser point, Sonny began to slowly feel sensation returning to his toes.

Carlito yawned as he redirected Rhett’s punches and sent the Cajun sprawling on the floor with a quick leg sweep. He backflipped and danced away from an attempted chokehold from Malik. He was getting bored with this. “Can’t any of you give me a decent challenge?” he taunted. Pahn and Williams charged him from both sides at once, but Carlito parried William’s punch and redirected it directly in Pahn’s face. The young agent crumpled to the floor. “You’re getting careless in your old age, Agent Williams,” he said. “You should have retired. Pity you’ll never get the chance now.”

Williams was slowly advancing on Carlito, letting loose a few ill-timed and wild swings. But he wasn’t trying to connect. While Carlito had his attention focused on Williams, Rhett silently crept closer and closer, setting up for a quick kidney punch from behind. Rhett wasn’t as strong as Williams or Malik, but he knew pressure points and where to aim his blows for the most possible damage. And this particular move he was setting up was a fight ender… if it landed. He wound up and… went flying backwards as a mule kick from Carlito landed square on his chest. He went staggering back and smashed his head against the bars of a cell behind him. Rhett joined Pahn in Dreamland as he slumped to the floor.

“You BNDG types are so predictable,” Carlito grinned. “If you’re going to try to distract someone, try not to be so obvious next time.” Williams snarled and ran in for a tackle. Malik dove at Carlito’s legs from behind. Against anyone else it would have been a devastating takedown, but Carlito wasn’t an ordinary fighter. He moved like his body was made of rubber and rolled completely out of the way. Missing their attack, the two BNDG agents landed prone on the floor. And that was all Carlito needed. A quick kick to the temple and Malik was down. Before Williams could spring up, Carlito was on him with a textbook-perfect sleeper. Williams flailed helplessly as darkness began to overtake him. The last thing he saw before he blacked out was Sonny, motionless and in some sort of trance. Then nothing.

Carlito stood up and brushed the dust from the floor off his bare chest. “Pathetic,” he scoffed. “If that’s the best BNDG can do, they should shut their doors for good. Adamson should be ashamed of himself.” He strutted over to Sonny. “I see you couldn’t bear to watch me wiping the floor with your comrades. Can’t say I blame you, mi amor. Failure is a hard pill to swallow. And now your failure is complete.” He leaned in, less than a foot above Sonny’s paralyzed body. “But don’t worry, you won’t remember it for long. Not after the Big Boss is done with you. Now it’s time to get you restrained for real and ready for shipping. I’ll call a crew to get your friends to their crates and then you’ll all be ours. Forever.” His lips parted in a cruel sneer.

But his gloating smile turned to incredulous shock as Sonny leapt up and delivered a jackhammer punch to his midsection. “What? How did you…” was all Carlito could get out before Sonny landed a devastating haymaker to his chin. He went down like a ton of bricks. Sonny dropped to one knee, nearly falling unconscious himself from the mental strain it took to break Carlito’s conditioned torpor. He staggered over to Williams and slapped his mentor awake.

Williams, unaware it was Sonny who was waking him, struck out with a wicked knifehand strike, but his wary protégé caught and redirected it. He said, “Easy, old timer. No need to go all Chuck Norris on the cavalry.”

“You wily sumbitch!” Williams said, hugging Sonny tightly. He let Sonny rest for a moment. while he roused the other three BNDG agents.

Pahn looked down at the sleeping Carlito and said “He did it! He actually did it!” He grabbed Carlito by the ankles and started dragging him over to an empty cell. “There’s no time to finish the job, but we can put him out of commission while we get the hell out of here.” But Malik stopped him.

“No,” he said. “We should take him with us. Some of the security doors may be palm or retinal locked. We may need him to get through.”

“And besides,” Rhett said. “If we can get him out of here, it would be a crushing blow to CUFF to have him as a prisoner. It would really tip the scales in our favor.”

Williams agreed. He said “You three make sure that Sonny Boy is ready to move. That took a lot out of him and we’re not out of here yet. I’ll handle our friend here.” He started gathering up the discarded ropes that had bound him and the others. Sonny knew what technique he was going to use. One that only he among them knew.

The other three agents began to inspect Sonny, making sure there were no lingering effects from the paralysis. Rhett used his knowledge of pressure points to quickly massage Sonny in key places, causing blood flow and relief to surge through his sore muscles. But he was so fascinated by what he saw Williams doing that he didn’t even notice. He watched intently, trying to take in as much of the technique as he could.

With the skill of a surgeon, Williams positioned Carlito’s arms behind his back in an impossible position. Just to be safely secured in this method required superhuman agility on the part of the prisoner. Sonny shuddered to think of what it felt like on the regular goombas Lucchesi applied it on back in the day. Carlito’s arms were almost bent completely backwards and up against his upper back. Too much movement would dislocate both shoulders. Sonny reeled at the deviousness of it. The CUFF-patented polymer ropes began weaving in, out, and around Carlito’s bare arms and chest, forming an ornate and functional harness that trapped his wrists and arms together helplessly and immobilized his upper body completely. One false pull by the victim would cause a chain reaction that would tighten several other places around the network, causing unbearable strain. It was made even worse when the ropes flew around Carlito’s neck and crotch. Sonny couldn’t see how Williams was applying the rope to Carlito’s nether regions inside his pajama pants, but he had a pretty good idea what was going on.

Williams smiled as he saw Sonny observing him. He said “I’ve added some of my own modifications. Flannery didn’t do this when he put me in this tie for our fight back then, but I’ve found it adds extra incentive for the victim to stay still. Especially this one. He wouldn’t do anything to risk these jewels.” Sonny’s jaw dropped when Williams finished and he saw the thoroughness and severity of Carlito’s bonds. Williams stood up and said “When we get back to base, I’ll teach it to you. To all of you. I think you’ve earned that knowledge. But this isn’t a technique that can be done on the fly. You need time to apply it and you have to make sure you’re unmolested the entire time. It’s delicate and one wrong knot makes it possible to slip if the victim is patient and canny. Which this one is. But this’ll hold. I’d stake my career on it.”

Pahn ran to the guard room. There were weapons there and he grabbed guns for him, Malik, Rhett, and Sonny. He also grabbed some rags from the laundry hamper and brought them to Williams so Carlito could be properly gagged and blindfolded. Williams hefted the restrained lump that was Carlito over his shoulders. He said “His legs are free in case we need him to walk at some point, but don’t worry. If he dares trying to kick out, he’ll strangle himself. He wouldn’t dare.” Sonny took the lead as the group rushed over to the elevator. Williams was behind him, carrying Carlito, who was just beginning to stir awake and realize his predicament. Malik, Rhett, and Pahn took point, guns at the ready.

As Carlito slowly regained consciousness, he began to squirm. He immediately realized this was a bad idea and grunted angrily as he felt the knots tightening all over his body. He howled in pain for a moment before becoming still, relieving the pressure. Sonny could see the interplay on Carlito’s gagged and blindfolded face as he realized the helplessness of his situation. He slumped into a steady and semi-comfortable position, completely defeated.

Williams saw Sonny’s gloating expression and said “Don’t get cocky, kid. We don’t know what’s out there. We don’t know if Carlito was the only one alerted or if the whole place is on the offensive now. We need to stay focused. You can play with our new toy once we’re on the transport back to base.”

Sonny nodded. “And Chuy is still out there,” he said gravely. Carlito snickered through his gag in response.

“Exactly,” Williams said. “All right, boys, this is it. We’ll head for the garage and get a vehicle. If there are no keys around, Rhett will hotwire it while the rest of us cover him.” Malik punched in the elevator access code he saw the guards using and held his breath. If the place was on full alert, the codes may have been deactivated to contain any escapees. But, thankfully, the code worked. Sonny watched Carlito to see if there was any response that would give them a clue as to the alert level, but their prisoner was as still as stone. He was too well-trained to let any tells get out.

As the doors opened, Sonny and the team filed into the empty elevator. “Best of luck, boys,” Williams said. “We’ll need it.”

Coming Soon: Conclusion – An Act of Mercy

Re: The Bureau of National Defense and Government [M/M] [new chapter 4/24/23]

Posted: Tue Apr 25, 2023 2:27 am
by gag1195
It's nice to see Sonny and Co. finally gaining some ground! I know they aren't out of the woods yet, but Im definitely rooting for them! Especially if it ends up with a more permanently restrained Carlito! It'll be nice for Sonny to get some well deserved payback on his star-crossed lover!