Alice Buckley drove David Williams to Manchester Airport to catch the Delta Airline's flight to Atlanta. It was half past seven in the morning when she dropped him outside the Departures entrance and they kissed in the car.

'Remember, if you find her don't think of me, just go for it.' she said as he loaded his baggage onto a trolley.

He kissed her again and simply said, 'I won't forget you Alice, nor Daresbury Projects. I will be back, with or without your mystery woman'

He turned and walked through the entrance, pushing his trolley, without a backwards glance.

The three hour wait seemed interminable but at least the first class lounge was comfortable enough. The flight was a lot more comfortable than he was used to on military transports and the free drinks helped to make it a pleasant trip, though he was careful not to even get to the stage of sensing impending inebriation.

He spent some of the time reading a pamphlet on female slavery in America. He understood that it was the result of the White Slave Act 2000. There were apparently a variety of ways that a woman could be enslaved. Fathers and even mothers could enslave a daughter between the ages of 18 and 21. He was not a parent so that did not apply to him. Husbands could enslaver their wives, but as he was not married, that also did not apply to him.

Something that did seem a possibility was that a woman who had sex more than three times in a month could be enslaved, either by her partner, or indeed by any man or woman who had proof that she had exceeded the limit. It seemed that they didn't need to be one of those partners. As he was in Atlanta for three months that could certainly apply to him.

A woman could also voluntarily become a slave but he doubted his addiction to BDSM would encourage that.

Finally, as far as he could tell a woman could be enslaved by the courts for virtually any offence even minor ones. Those women tended to be sold off at auctions and he decided that he would visit an auction, just for fun and who knows he might even buy a slave.

The trouble with all these thoughts of enslavement was that he could not take his slave back into the UK. She would be seized by Customs and Immigration and eventually deported as an illegal immigrant. He might also face charges of trying to import illegal items.

He put down his pamphlet and watched the in-flight film

 

***

 

Once through customs and immigration he was met by Henry Pemberton who ushered him to a waiting car and drove him along the I 85 through Downtown Atlanta, and then continued North to Route 400 and towards the Global Planning headquarters, just south of Dunwoody. However they did not actually go that far, turning off just after the Perimeter and heading towards a gated development. David was going to use the apartment that Warren Fielding normally occupied when he was in town.

Henry helped David unload his belongings and then took him out for a meal at Maggiano's restaurant in Little Italy. Henry didn't push the conversation, he already knew the effects of jet lag and despite David's protestations he told him to get some sleep the following day and he would pick him up the day after and run him to work, where he would be provided with a company car, office and all the good things that Global Planning had to offer.

After what to Henry was to lunch and to David seemed evening dinner, Henry ran him back to the apartment. Having checked that David was alright with the various entry codes he gave David his personal cell phone number. He insisted that David call him if he had any needs at all. After Henry had left David wondered if he should have asked about the nearest BDSM Club and then decided it would not have been a good idea to raise the issue so early in his stay.

As it happened David slept through the rest of the day and the day after. It wasn't really so much jet lag as the consequences of his rush to get the French project finished and then prepare for Atlanta. 'I'm getting old', he told himself. 'Good job I got out when I did.'

True to his word, Henry arrived at 8 am the following morning and drove David to Global's headquarters. They were actually in a rather nice wooded area, though the buildings were more seventies style. There was a main building into which Henry guided him and he could see another taller building set further back.

Henry took him to his office and as they passed through, the outer office, Henry introduced him to his secretary, Stephanie Edgcumbe though he did not stop but continued into his own private office. All that David could do was mouth 'Hello; and smile at Stephanie, who appeared to be good looking and in her early forties.

'Take a seat' said Henry pointing to a comfortable chair.

When they were both seated Henry went through some preliminary documents, signing David up to the payroll, despite his protestations that Daresbury Projects was still paying his wages. 'No conflict' said Henry 'Alice is aware that I'm topping up your salary to US levels, though Warren will keep to his current pay scale.'

Thereafter he showed David a small office down the corridor that would be his for the duration of his stay. He handed him the keys to a Pontiac Grand Am that stood gleaming in the car park or parking lot as Henry insisted on calling it.

'Before you meet the team, I want to tell you something about them. You will be shadowing the team led by Andrea Margaron. She's very good at planning but her man management skills leave a lot to be desired. Most project management companies in the South rate her as the number one planner but not one of them has tried to headhunt her. The labour turnover in her team is the highest not only in Global Planning but in any of the aforementioned companies. But for the success of previous products and the fact that this is a vital project, I'd consider firing her, or finding her an alternative role. Nominally she's your boss but if you have any problems with her then come to me. I'll gladly sack her and put you in her place. Indeed if you accept my offer of a job, I damn well will sack her.'

'The other four are good employees. John Evans, Sheila Pullman, Christine Scott and Paul Barrow but none of them would be able to do her job at this stage in their careers but you would. We normally operate five person teams here, so you are supernumerary but you are here to learn and hopefully to eventually take up the role I want for you.'

With that he rose and led David down the corridor to the elevators which David thought of as lifts and down one floor. They walked along the corridor to a large office which had five desks. None of them were occupied by anyone, in the sense of someone sitting at it but two men and two women were examining a large sheet spread over one of those desks.

'Where's Andrea?' said Henry

'She's just finishing one of the site visits' said one of the women. 'She should be back in,' she paused and looked at the clock 'ten minutes' she said

'This is Sheila', Henry said referring to the woman who had just spoken. That is Christine he said pointing at the other woman. 'John and Paul' he said pointing to each of the men in turn.

He introduced David to them and they began to engage in some small talk, waiting for Andrea.

They heard the elevator come to a stop outside and the sound of high heels on the corridor floor. David missed the introduction as the woman swept into the office. All he could think of was that Alice had been right.

The woman who he intended to share his life with had just walked into the room

She had auburn hair and a very curvaceous figure. She looked to be in her early 30's. Of much greater interest to David was her dress. She was wearing a black leather skirt and jacket. The skirt was a knee length pencil skirt and the jacket was tight fitting, which emphasised her breasts. Her shoes had at least four inch heels and she looked every inch his perfect woman.

'Hi I'm Andrea. You must be the new boy.' she said to David.

It took all his self-control to keep his voice steady and reply 'David Williams, at your service.' The man with commendations for bravery in Afghanistan found that he was totally unnerved by the beauty in front of him. He put himself into combat mode, took a deep breath in a manner that did not attract attention and held out his hand.

She took it and they shook hands, his smile was genuine and she felt that there was nothing hidden, as there was with most of the other men around here. They all wanted to get in her knickers, mainly because three times in a month and they could enslave her.