Let’s say, and why not, that you’re a businessman. Further, let’s say you’re the sort of businessman who might need a certain amount of regular tension release in order to keep this mental process nice and lush and capable of all that big picture thinking.
And maybe you’re the sort of fellow who’s favored form of tension release requires discretion of the highest sort.
With me so far?
So, There’s a B2B affair named Bryson import/export, They don’t really advertise. strictly word of mouth on this one. Tidy little office downtown. You might call them, talk to Mindy, let them know that you have some “Cargo” that needs to be unloaded.
Mindy is very eager to help. She’ll send round one of their “Executive assistants” to straighten out some “Paperwork” They’ll even show up to your hotel in the evening because they are dedicated to being a top flight full-service organization. The Executive Assistant will show up in full business regalia, have business cards and everything. And when "business" has been concluded, their driver will whisk them away to their next important appointment.
Most hotel desk clerks never suspect a thing. Most accountants see something bland like “Bryson E/I Inc.-Consulting” on an expense account and think nothing of it. Most cops don’t know a thing about this operation. And on the rare occasion when a meeting has gone south and badly, the young lady in question was able to threaten to press charges and the businessman in question was able to realize in time, that because she didn’t dress or act like a whore, no one was necessarily going to BELIEVE she was a whore.
The mastermind behind this operation is a young woman named Esmerelda Duchene. Esme is a mixed race woman. Her mother was Puerto Rican. Her father was a Frenchman who disappeared not long after Esme was born. And so she and her mother lived in one of the rougher parts of town. Esme is very smart and realized very young that a whore has to save her money if she wants any freedom at all. She stayed away from drugs and drink. Made sure that Tino never knew exactly how much money she had, and when the time was right to strike out on her own, made sure that Tino fell down 4 flights of stairs and broke every damn bone in his body.
She took Pablo (His best friend) and about half of his girls and set up her own situation. No one at Bryson is hooked on anything. They all liked the idea of stepping up from “Street whore” to “Call girl” and they’ve worked hard to maintain an image that allows them to make their moves with impunity. They’ve gotten pretty good at spotting horndogs at business conferences and job fairs and laying off their business cards on them. It’s all very slick. Esme has even encouraged a couple of the girls to take some courses in business and marketing. It enables them to talk a good game and has paid unexpected dividends, insofar as Twyla discovered she had a talent for accounting. Hell, Esme is thinking very seriously about instituting a profit sharing scheme.
Which is not say that life is all beer and skittles at Bryson. They have to work hard to stay off the cop radar. Cop bribery usually becomes serious overhead. Also, not all girls who join up are particularly suited to the import/export business. Women who find they have no talent for the biz tend to get bent out of shape and threaten to go to the cops. Usually, that’s when Pablo steps in, and for one reason or another, the problem goes away. Esme is a big believer in messing an enemy over so thoroughly that they are never capable of coming back at you. The last girl who opened her mouth like she was going to say something got loaded up with Horse and turned over to some psycho, who now has her pulling trains of methed-up skinheads.
Esme has even begun to create dossiers on her repeat customers, Not that she’s looking to blackmail them at all. She recognizes that would require a LOT more work and discretion than she currently wants to deal with. But a little bit of influence in the right places could open so many doors, and would it hurt anything if she had the wife’s name and number on her phone? No. A light touch here and there could make all the difference.
All in all, Bryson Import/Export is a piece of low hanging fruit for the supernatural creature that can (A) find out about it, and (B) figure out a way to put Esmerelda in their pocket. But you’d better move quick. Esme is thinking about upping her security complement.
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