Little Big Man

LITTLE BIG MAN – a serial novel by Travis Creel

CHAPTER FORTY-NINE: A TRAP IS SPRUNG

Previously: Nikolai and the two FSB men (Tcherepnin and Bobrovsky) recover Alexei's original draft of Writing Assignment #1 (ch. 38-9) including Latronius' initial visit and Alex witnessing Pyotr sneaking in his boyfriend. Upon interrogating Alexei, Tcherepnin realizes that Grigory was innocent of the embezzlement of funds from Little Big Man Europe, and that the transfer was actually effected by Latronius at the behest of someone else, probably Ilya. But Tcherepnin reminds them that they cannot build a case solely on a story told by a slave and must gather additional evidence. They decide to lure Latronius back to the estate by having Dmitri leave on a `business trip'.

ALEXEI: THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15, LATE NIGHT – MASTER'S BEDROOM.

I finally understood why Master had not punished Ilya or Pyotr after reading my Writing Assignment #1. Master hadn't known about Latronius, Ilya's responsibility for my gang-rape, or Pyotr's overnight visitor. After he discovered that this document had been rewritten, he had me check for other possible alterations. I found one: The episode when Ilya had filmed me `trying to escape' (cf. Ch. 35) had been removed. On Master's instructions, I restored it to my original account.

There was such intensity over this last week, I was sure Master would surely do something now. But Ilya was still here and Pyotr was still here. I was glad for Pyotr – it wasn't his fault, really – but Master should have taken some action against Ilya. Who seemed as comfortable in his arrogant way as ever.

Meanwhile, Nikolai had proved that a Man in his late fifties could be incredibly virile and fucked the hell out of me Friday afternoon and again at the party Saturday night. Ruslan was back by then. They played two rounds of a game called `Heads or Tails' which reminded me of one of the Sex Games on the boat. Each of the staff had to flip a coin and I had to flip a coin. If they matched, they got to use me in the corresponding orifice. Anyone who lost both rounds had to satisfy himself with jerking off and then shooting into my mouth. Exception – if Master lost both rounds, the game would continue until Master had a chance to use me.

Naturally, Master lost both rounds, so there was a round three. By evening's end, I had been fucked ten times – including, ironically, three times by Ilya – and sucked five cocks. Everyone got to use me in one hole or the other. As the Clacksburg Crier would have put it, `a good time was had by all'.

The inside of my ass was pretty sore – and then they went to work on the outside, with a game called Spanking Musical Chairs. It began with all ten participants giving me ten swats on the behind with their bare hand – as hard as they could. That's 100 swats. Then they played musical chairs and one person had to sit out – but the other nine planted ten additional swats. That's 90 more. They continued removing a chair – 80 swats, then 70, continuing until only one player remained – Nikolai, who got to plant the normal 10 plus a `winner's bonus' of 50. For a grand total of 600 swats. It was only with their hands, but it stung plenty hard, my ass turning a rosy red before I was even a quarter of the way through the ordeal.

As usual at a party, they put me into a sling, tied me up with ropes that would automatically loosen at 5:30 the next morning, inserted a butt plug, and left me overnight.

With Ruslan back, I figured Nikolai would leave – but he didn't. Master explained that Nikolai would be staying on for a bit – he was `between slaves' – and had unlimited use of either end of me.

Great news! (Yeah, that's sarcasm in action.)

The only other unusual development of the week came on Tuesday afternoon. Henri's scheduled fuck took place in the playroom, to which I had been mysteriously ordered. Henri (about my only source of information) told me that a workman had been called in who couldn't know that a naked slave was resident. The workman had brought what looked like electrical equipment. Henri didn't know why he was here but said he had gone up to Master's bedroom.

I came to an uncomfortable realization: Sweet Henri, my source of information, was probably everyone's source of information. One day last month, Henri, knowing I was educated, had asked if Master had given me any assignments that involved my mind and not my body. I told him about my writing a history of my slavehood. And Henri probably saw no harm in repeating that bit of news, and it got around to Ilya. Which is how my stories got altered.

Last night, another surprise. Master ordered me to pack his suitcase. I was astonished that he was going away again, so soon after being concerned about whatever Latronius had done at his computer the last time he was away. But my job is to do what I'm told, and I did what I was told. Master wasn't going to explain himself to me, nor did he need to. He's the Master.

He left this morning. Tonight, Ruslan gave me a great fuck and delivered me to Master's bedroom at about ten. Having nothing to do, I went right to bed (that is to say, floor). When Master was away, the lights switched off automatically at eleven o'clock. I fell asleep with the lights on, mentally reliving the sensation of Ruslan's cock jackhammering me.

The lights switched off without waking me, but I was not terribly surprised to awaken to the quiet steps of a heavy foot – I felt the vibrations on the floor – and then hands lifted me up.

• Surprised to see me so soon, baby?

• Yes, Latronius.

Yeah, I was being brazen in using his name, but this was just Latronius after all. Oh, shit - Master had installed electrical equipment, maybe the room was bugged. Latronius may be a home invader, but he was still a Man and not a slave, so I had better call him –

• Sir. (Better late than never.)

• I've been saving up my spunk for you, boy. I got at least three loads ready. Let's do the first one face-to-face so you can view the handsomest Man New Orleans ever produced while he's humping your sweet ass.

He dumped me on the bed and pushed my legs up over his shoulders. He put both pillows under my rump to raise me higher, his hands grabbing my shoulders as he pushed his great weight – and his great cock – into me. His chest bumped against my thighs, pushing my legs back as he pumped his hips forward, digging his claws into my shoulder blades for better purchase as he drilled me.

I had just been opened up by Ruslan and my hole was ready for his sizeable cock – not as thick as Ruslan's but plenty big. The tip of his member pushed time and time again against my prostate, sending my penis straight in the air and my brain into whirlwinds of pleasure. There was something magical about the combination of his cock and my rectum – they were made for each other.

He upped his tempo, fucking me with fury, three thrusts a second, hard, deep – sending me into a frenzy. I couldn't really look at his face, it was too dark – and so I closed my eyes to concentrate on the thick cock filling my bowels with pleasure. Which is probably why I never heard the door open.

The only thing I heard was Latronius call out

• Hey! What the –

And then he fell on top of me, his heavy body almost crushing my chest as his head fell against mine, his lips landing on my lips – but it was not a kiss. It was a bump.

And then the lights came on.

DMITRI/OLEG: THURSDAY, 15 DECEMBER, LATE NIGHT – PLAYROOM

Oleg thought a third-person touch would serve at least the beginning of this next scene. I have allowed him some license to take my version of events and rewrite it in his own style. So if this doesn't sound like me, that's why.

Two naked bodies were fashioned into position, each bent over a padded sawhorse and tied to its legs by ankles and wrists. They were across the cavernous room from each other, facing the same direction, so that one had a view of the other's ass, but at a distance. Both were awake, but one was alert and frantic, while the other was still groggy from recent sedation. There were other characteristics in common: a large butt plug up each of their asses, electrodes clipped to their balls, a catheter invading their cocks. They had been transported here after having been interrupted in the middle of sex.

The man who could see the other was large and Black; the object across the room was smaller, white, and blond.

The four other men in the room were all dressed. One, a tall, muscular man in his fifties, held a device in his hand. The man next to him was his disciple but yet in charge, hands free but overseeing everything. These two plus a third, a fit, handsome man with a military bearing, were focused on the large Black victim. The fourth, younger, was across the room wielding a heavy prison strap, which reddened the comely buttocks of the young white boy. His cries of pain were muffled by the penis gag which filled his mouth. After twenty strokes, his assailant stopped and picked up a bullwhip.

DMITRI (taking over now): Of course, Oleg's `four men' were Nikolai, myself, Tcherepnin and Bobrovsky, respectively. Tcherepnin began interrogating the subjugated Black, whose identity you have guessed.

• Is your name Latronius Minniefield?

• Yeah, what of it? (Nikolai pressed something on his gadget, and a howl of protest emanated from across the room.)

• I think you'd better be respectful, because if you don't, that young man is going to get punished. That was a sample. Here's another. (A scream from both sides of the room.) Yes, the plug in your ass is electrified. As is the catheter in your cock. As are those weights attached to your balls. And what you're experiencing, he's experiencing, too. Only he's getting it worse.

• Don't harm him. He did nothing wrong.

• Whether harm comes to him or not is up to you, Latronius. You have a lot of explaining to do.

• Look, Pyotr let me in. He's a pal of mine.

• He's a pal of yours. Sure. Pyotr doesn't speak English.

• I speak Russian. Do you want to question me in Russian so I can prove it?

• Why not? (Tcherepnin answered in Russian; the rest of the conversation established that Latronius could, indeed, speak Russian.)

• Pyotr said the slave here was really hot and I should come and fuck him some time. He said to come tonight because the master was going to be away, but I guess Pyotr lied to me. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done it. It's never happened before and it won't happen again.

• That's your story?

• Yes. (Screams from across the room.)

• (Nikolai) Alexei didn't like it any better last week when I used the electrodes on him then.

• (Tcherepnin) That was a lie and we know it's a lie. And that isn't the main thing that needs explaining. It's about what happened at Grigory's trial.

• Who's Grigory?

• Who's Grigory?' Nice try. Grigory told the judge a crazy story about a Black American calling himself James Stanford who roused him out of bed, claiming that he had come to visit Dmitri only to find he wasn't here. He said he worked on a project called Little Big Man' and Pyotr, knowing this, had let him in. Only James needed to send an e-mail to his contact in America, where it was still daytime, and Grigory was the only person still awake who could give him access. Which is why Grigory's fingerprints were on the computer. His story was pathetic – blaming his crime on a mysterious foreigner arriving in the middle of the night – making him a Black American was laying on the xenophobia and racism even thicker. The judge cut him off before he could go further with this ridiculous fabrication. Grigory was sentenced to twenty years hard labor. Don't you agree that was appropriate?

• Yes.

• Only it wasn't, you see. It turns out that boy you were so amorously fucking tonight – before we stuck a needle in your ass and sedated you – saw what actually happened. And it corresponds almost exactly with what Grigory told us. Grigory didn't transfer those funds, you did.

• What are you talking about? That's absurd. I don't know anything about any funds. (Screams, followed by two cracks of the bullwhip and more screams.)

• You don't want to hurt Alexei, now, do you?

• Alexei? He's called Alexei now?

• You're in a lot of trouble, Latronius. Or James. Or whatever your real name is.

• It's Latronius.

• Grigory is awaiting release. Unless you cooperate, you're going to take his place. Given that your lie was responsible for an innocent man's conviction, you'll probably get thirty or forty years.

• Cooperate? What do I have to do?

• You don't have the knowledge to transfer funds – you wouldn't know the account numbers, or the procedure for transferring them to that account in the Caymans.

• Exactly.

• Which is why you kept referring to the sheet of paper you kept in your back pocket.

• Shit, he saw that, too?

• He saw that, too. Who gave it to you, Latronius? You tell us this and I think we can avoid prison time. But lie to us? That innocent boy over there gets his nuts cut off. (Muffled screams from across the room, Tcherepnin's voice having carried to the far side of the playroom.)

• Shit, if he gave me away, he can lose his nuts for all I care.

• What about yours?

• Oh, no, no, you wouldn't do that.

• The choice is simple, Latronius. Lie and it's jail, your nuts and his nuts. Tell us the truth – you stay out of jail and we untie him from that trestle.

• . . . It was Ilya.

• Ilya. You're sure about that. (Crack. Scream.)

• Yes, Ilya! Stop whipping him – I told you the truth, it was Ilya. He arranged the whole thing – he said I'd get fifty thousand euros out of it.

• Why Grigory?

• Ilya told me to ask him. Originally, I thought it was because his room was near the top of the stairs and the closest to Dmitri's. But then I realized it was because he wanted to frame Grigory. He needed someone to take the rap and he said Dmitri would never believe it was Sasha or Oleg. He thought Sasha would eventually find the money missing, so he reported it himself to divert suspicion.

• Alexei says you have been here several times.

• Alexei has a big mouth. But yeah, I've been here other times. Pyotr lets me in. Okay I'm not a friend of Pyotr – I don't know why he lets me in. Maybe Ilya promised him a cut, too.

• Alexei says you come in during dinner and then hide in Dmitri's room until he shows up. But that night you didn't. Why?

• I was late. I couldn't get here during dinner and then it wasn't safe to enter until everyone was in bed. I waited downstairs in the tunnel. Ilya texted me when everyone went to bed, but he told me Grigory always was the last to go to sleep, he was a regular night owl, another reason why he chose Grigory to frame. So that's when I came up and got Grigory to help me.

• Okay, we've got what we wanted. (calling across) Bobrovsky, you can release Markov.

• (Latronius) Release who?

• Markov. Arkadi Markov. Oh, did you think that was Alexei we were torturing over there? Goodness, no, he's probably asleep by now.

• Then who is that?

• That? Like I said, that's Arkadi Markov . . . Pyotr's boyfriend.

DMITRI: FRIDAY, 16 DECEMBER MORNING - VARIOUS ROOMS

A hypodermic needle – and stealth - had been indispensable in both cases. Due to the infrared camera we'd installed in my bedroom, we knew Latronius was there. We weren't sure about Pyotr's boy but quietly entered his room. Pyotr's naked back was to us, his boy on his knees facing him – and us – but so attentive to the chauffeur's cock that neither noticed us entering. A quick jab in Pyotr's butt instantly rendered him unconscious while we subdued the boy, gagged him, and dragged him to the playroom. We gave Pyotr an extra dose so that he would sleep soundly until morning and not alert anyone else of our presence. After all, I was `on a business trip' – and no one knew the FSB men were here.

Then we went back for Latronius. The room was dark, but we could hear him giving Alexei's innards a thorough workout. It wasn't hard to locate the round moons that were his buttocks and jab him with the sedative. He fell forward almost immediately, bumping his head on Alexei's. The slave was astonished to see me as we pulled the bulky black man off of his body. I ordered him back to sleep – on the floor – knowing he was no threat to tell anyone of our presence.

After completing the interrogation in the playroom, we sedated Latronius and Pyotr's boy, untied them, and brought their clothes down so they could dress when they woke up. However, we weren't about to let them leave the playroom until the legal issues had been resolved. Alexei's discipline sessions would have to be held elsewhere for the time being.

Nikolai volunteered to keep Pyotr in his room until we could talk with him; we had to keep this situation under wraps and couldn't have him complaining to the other staff about what we had done.

I returned to my bedroom, woke Alexei – who had indeed fallen back to sleep – and had him make up two guest rooms. The interrogation had made me horny and so I threw another fuck into him before falling asleep at about two.

I surprised the remaining servants with my appearance at breakfast, and told them that I couldn't discuss it and that they shouldn't speculate. Of course, they noticed Pyotr's absence and doubtless were gossiping about it. I had to speak to Henri privately to explain that there were visitors in the house whose presence had to be kept secret – and that if anyone learned of their presence from him, he would lose access to Alexei for a month. This was sufficient incentive to keep Henri's mouth shut. I had him make up four extra breakfasts and had Alexei bring two of them to the FSB men in their respective rooms. (Given the length of time Alexei was gone on the second delivery, I suspect Bobrovsky gave my slave a little extra breakfast – in the form of a sausage.) I told Henri the other meals were for Pyotr and Nikolai, who had not risen in time for breakfast. In fact, the other two meals were for the uninvited guests in the playroom. Nikolai, fortunately, didn't mind missing breakfast – and hopefully Pyotr was still asleep.

I sent Ruslan upstairs to relieve Nikolai, instructing him to keep Pyotr in his room without explaining why – or informing him of the FSB men's presence. I felt bad keeping Ruslan out of the loop, but the more tightly-held this investigation was, the better in the short-run.

There was a second set of controls over the front gate in the conference room, so that I could admit guests if Pyotr couldn't – it was how the FSB men gained admission last night – and I was able to buzz in Sasha, Oleg and Ilya when they arrived for work. The team – Nikolai, Tcherepnin, Bobrovsky and myself – assembled there to strategize.

• Who should we bring in first, Ilya or Pyotr?

• (Tcherepnin) Both simultaneously is best. Does either one know we're here?

• They shouldn't, unless Ilya spotted your car when he came in.

• I know better than to leave my car where others can see it.

• Then no. Pyotr probably assumes I returned to catch him the act with his boyfriend, and shouldn't have any reason to connect it with the embezzlement.

• Do you want us to arrest Pyotr? We can charge him as an accessory.

• (Bobrovsky) If he knew what was going on.

It was a rare moment of Bobrovsky thinking with something not in his pants.

• (Nikolai) That's a good point. Pyotr may have no idea the embezzlement has even taken place. Let us talk to him while you question Ilya.

• (Tcherepnin) Just what I was going to suggest.

I texted Sasha to send Ilya to the conference room while Nikolai and I headed up to Pyotr's room, dismissing Ruslan. Pyotr was wide awake and agitated.

• Arkasha did nothing wrong. I take all the blame. It was all my fault.

• He is guilty of criminal trespass. I could have him arrested.

• Then have me arrested – I let him in.

• I'm not going to arrest you, Pyotr. But there will have to be consequences.

• Will I lose my job?

• That remains to be seen. It depends on how cooperative you are.

• Boss, I'll cooperate. I'll do whatever you ask. I'll – I'll stop seeing Arkasha. He – he drives me crazy, it's like I'm addicted to him, men of that type – Alexei is like that, too, I – anyway, I won't ever let him in again, I swear it.

• No, you won't. That is assumed. Pyotr, this is not about Arkadi Markov.

• Then what is it about?

• It's about the other person you let in last night.

• Latronius?

• Latronius. Latronius says you're his friend.

• He's not my friend. He's Ilya's friend. Well, Ilya's friend's friend.

• If he's not your friend, why have you let him in several times?

• Ilya said if I didn't, he would tell you about Arkasha. He said he had other evidence he could use against me, some kind of tape of me and Alexei – I didn't understand what he was talking about, but he said it would cost me my job.

• Did you know Latronius was fucking Alexei?

• He was? No. I figured it was sex with someone – Ivan maybe, he bottoms sometimes. I didn't think Alexei. But I didn't ask.

• (Nikolai) Do you remember the last time he was here? Before last night?

• When you were in Moscow. Two, maybe three weeks ago?

• What happened that night?

• He was late. The arrangement is that he comes just before dinner time. I buzz him in and he uses the slave tunnel to enter the house while we're eating dinner. But he didn't show up on time and I got my dinner late. He had to wait in the slave tunnel because there were people walking around the house who might see him.

• And then what?

• I don't know. After everyone went to bed, I guess he went upstairs to fuck Alexei.

• Did you give him anything? A piece of paper, perhaps?

• Boss, I never even saw him. He parks his car somewhere outside the gate and I buzz him in. It takes him around twenty minutes to walk to the garage and then he goes to the slave tunnel. By that time, I'm in the house, eating dinner, so I never see him, except on the monitor when he's at the front gate.

• The last time he was here, did anything unusual happen?

• Well, I – I mean Arkasha was here. So if something happened, I was – I didn't notice.

• Okay, that's all for now, Pyotr.

• Boss, what's going to happen? To me and to Arkasha?

• Arkadi's downstairs in the playroom.

• The playroom? Boss -

• I didn't touch him. The FSB men did, however, use some of their techniques to gain information.

• Oh no, poor Arkasha.

• He's fine. We're just holding him and Latronius until we finish our inquiries.

• And then you'll let him leave?

• We can't hold him forever. So yes, of course, he'll leave.

• Thank you, Boss. And . . . what about me?

• I'll have to see, Pyotr. We need to hear what Ilya tells us. And compare that with what Latronius has told us. And Alexei. And we may have to speak to Grigory as well.

• Grigory? Grigory left. What does he have to do with it?

• Possibly very little, Pyotr. Possibly very little indeed.

We left, telling Pyotr to resume his duties in the garage but not to discuss the conversation with anyone else. Nikolai and I repaired to my room to compare notes.

• (Nikolai) This is not a man who was involved in the embezzlement. I found him credible.

• Agreed. He looked utterly bewildered when we asked him about that night.

• Someone – either Ilya or Grigory – sent Latronius those instructions and he printed them out before he arrived here. If it was Grigory, why not just give him the password at the same time? And why would he leave his fingerprints? No, this all points to Ilya. So I'm interested to learn what Tcherepnin and Bobrovsky found out in their interrogation.

Their interrogation evidently took longer than ours, as it was nearly twenty minutes later when Tcherepnin texted me that they had finished. Nikolai and I joined them in the Conference Room.

• (Tcherepnin) So here's Ilya's version of events: Grigory, Pyotr and Alexei are in this together. Pyotr has the hots for Alexei, who is physically similar to his boyfriend Arkadi Markov. The two of them concocted this plot and convinced Grigory to help them. The idea was to get Pyotr enough money so that he could buy Alexei from you, hoping you would put him on the market before the next Little Big Man.

• (me, laughing) Ilya would never try that story on me. How can Pyotr and Alexei concoct anything together? Pyotr doesn't speak English. Alexei doesn't speak Russian. Some conspiracy.

• He says Grigory acted as translator and intermediary. They had to give him a cut.

• Then why involve Latronius? Grigory could have made the transfer himself. Besides, Grigory and Pyotr don't even like each other. This story makes no sense.

• True, but Ilya blew a lot of smoke, and it complicates matters. He showed me a tape of Alexei running away and Ilya chasing after him. In the background you can hear Pyotr yelling – at Ilya. And then he played an audio tape of Alexei having sex with Pyotr and calling out how Pyotr was a better fucker than you, Dmitri.

• Yes, I recently read Alexei's account of both of those events. They're credible – Ilya's version isn't. For one thing, Alexei would never call me by my first name. Latronius – provoked him into saying that so they could doctor up this tape.

• Did you tell Ilya that?

• Of course not. Ilya doesn't know we've recovered Alexei's original account. He thinks we don't know that he brought in Latronius and the others back in July, or how that tape of Alexei `escaping' was made. It's in our best interests to let him think that. And Grigory could testify that he doctored the audio tape - Alexei says he did.

• Okay, Dmitri, but now imagine we're in court. Ilya presents his version of events – he's totally innocent. And he has a video of a naked man running around in your estate – and an audio of Alexei mentioning that you fuck him. If he publicly exposes you as a slave-owner, you're in deep shit. And Ilya's father is a lawyer – he will use this to protect his son if he has to. Ilya would probably not be anxious for his father to know he's homosexual or works in a slaveowner's household – but if it kept him out of a thirty-year sentence, I think he'd take that risk. Furthermore, how can we counter this? Against Grigory I could present Alexei's audio testimony as a deposition, describing him as an employee. If I tried the same thing with Ilya, he would insist on confronting Alexei directly. We can't have Alexei appear in court – he'd have to wear clothes.

• In which case IAMSO would banish me, take Alexei away, and prohibit me from ever purchasing a slave from any of their markets. Latronius?

• Latronius could testify and that might help, but what would be in his best interests – to support us or to support Ilya and blame Grigory? Remember, Grigory has already been convicted. A court doesn't want to admit they made a mistake. I can get Grigory released if I do it discreetly and not in a public court. But if Ilya – or his father – raises the profile, the judge will not be inclined to reverse a judgment in Grigory's favor.

• In other words, we've got Ilya by the balls, but we're hamstrung when it comes to prosecuting him.

• As of now, yes. We're going to have to set a trap for him – something that he can't get out of. Some way of tying him directly to those transferred funds.

• And in the meantime, do nothing?

• Yes. Let him think we've bought his story. Apologize for questioning him. Let him feel safe and secure. That's when criminals make their mistake – when they think they've gotten away with it.

• Nikolai?

• (Nikolai) Yes, I agree. We need some time to figure something out. The evidence isn't going away. How long can you hold Grigory before you have to send him to Siberia?

• (Tcherepnin) Probably three or four months. Maybe longer if I can grease a palm or two.

• (Bobrovsky) What do we do with the two downstairs?

That was a very good question.

DMITRI – FRIDAY, 16 DECEMBER, AFTERNOON – PLAYROOM

It was Friday afternoon. Alexei was getting his little butt reamed by Ruslan as I descended to the playroom to talk to Latronius and Arkadi. Nikolai was with me, as were Tcherepnin and Bobrovsky, for a little extra muscle in case Latronius got belligerent. I also brought Pyotr so that he could see that his playmate was okay.

Pyotr's boy Arkadi looked terrified when we walked in; Latronius looked worried.

• Relax. Everything is going to be okay.

Neither looked like they believed me. Just as well: I had my own definition of `okay'.

• (Tcherepnin) You're not being arrested.

• (Arkadi) So we can leave now?

• Not quite yet. We still have some investigating to do and we may need further statements from you to determine whether we will need to call you on the witness stand. I think we will be able to let you leave on Sunday.

• Sunday! Not until then? I'm supposed to be at work today, my father will be expecting me home and –

• Surely your father is used to your being out overnight. Pyotr will let him know you're staying with him for the weekend.

• No, not that. My father doesn't know I'm gay.

• Then it's about time he found out. Or would you rather I called him and let him know you were being detained by the FSB?

Arkadi's face fell.

• (Pyotr) I think he knows, Arkasha. It will be all right. Your father is a good man.

• (Latronius) So can you let us out of this room at least?

• (Tcherepnin) Our investigation is still secret. The other servants don't know you're down here – and Pyotr won't be telling them, will he?

• (Pyotr) Absolutely not.

It was clear to me that Pyotr, anxious to keep his job, would do anything we asked.

• (Latronius) What are we supposed to do, stuck down here for two more days?

• (Bobrovsky, brightly) Well, you can fuck each other if you want to. (A suggestion which wasn't greeted with a rousing chorus of approval.)

• (me) We'll bring you some playing cards and a book or two. And a tablet. We'll deliver your meals and there are bathrooms down here. For sleeping, there are a pair of hammocks – well, slings, really, but they can be slept in.

• (Tcherepnin) We apologize for the methods used last night. It was necessary to produce the information we needed and we regret any discomfort it may have caused.

• (Latronius) Discomfort? It was torture. Particularly for him.

• (me) Admittedly. So we'd like to make it up to you. Arkadi, has Pyotr told you about Alexei?

• (Arkadi) I know who he is, but not from Pyotr. Pyotr never told me you had a slave.

• Who did, Latronius?

Arkadi nodded.

• Well, it's logical. That's why he was here – to fuck my slave. One of the advantages of owning a slave is that you can fuck him whenever you want. And you can share him with whoever you want, and he can't object. On Saturday nights we have a party where Alexei is the guest of honor. Which means he takes a lot of cocks and we make his ass nice and red. We'd like to invite you to join us. You do fuck, don't you – or are you strictly a bottom?

• (Arkadi) No, I'm versatile. I bottom for Pyotr but when I'm with others I top sometimes.

I looked at Pyotr, who didn't look happy at the thought that Arkadi was not exclusive to him.

• And I know Latronius would like to join us, am I right?

• (Latronius) I'm getting hard just thinking about it.

• Very good. So now you have something to look forward to. Tomorrow night you'll join us at our party. Then Sunday, we'll send you on your way.

• (Latronius) Sounds good. And, as the man said, Arkadi, between now and then we can fuck all we want.

Arkadi's look said, "Dream on."

Pyotr's look said, "Over my dead body."

Bobrovsky's look said, "Can I watch?"

[COMING UP NEXT: CHAPTER FIFTY - A PARTY WITHOUT ALEXEI]