Текст книги "SpyCorp"

Автор книги: Alexander Deev

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And is it true that prostitution should not be legal only due to some specific moral code of society that allows so many other things to happen, but cannot tolerate one item more? Or maybe it is just a question of official position. The government doesn’t want to lose the support of the conservative part of society. When on the other side, they also won’t issue laws that will be very severe to prostitutes. And frankly speaking, I almost sure that almost in any parliament there are enough of men – and possibly women too – who did not avoid an option provided by the elite escort call girls. And also there is a known case that explains the conventionality of the thing. It was in California. One nimble entrepreneur benefited from the porn studio where clients paid to be filmed. There were the rooms and the girls in the rooms who were contracted as actresses. And if some guy paid money, he could spend an hour in the room with a girl while it all was filmed on a camera placed in there. After that, a guy received a private copy for himself. So actually, it was nothing but another bordello, just with a particular option of filming the process. So, is it just a matter of calling the things with the names? Is it so important for authorities to have a legal but unjust reason to say that they don’t support and promote such things?

And what would we say about girls who are indeed nothing but the latent prostitutes? Those girls who live with the men they maybe do not like at all, but who get laid with them just for the financial benefits of a mutual living. Are they better than the escort girls? Are they better only because they probably take more money and things for one night and have less of the sexual intercourse? At least, the escort girls name the certain prices for certain services. In this regard, they do not cheat themselves and the people around. A significant difference between the latent prostitutes and those who are called the prostitutes is in quantities of the money and the sexual acts they have, together with the option of pretending to be a regular person. Imagine some guy at a luxurious party telling his friends that this girl with him is his girlfriend and it doesn’t matter that she sleeps with him only because of his money. Nonsense! The escort girls may pretend an orgasm in exchange for money, but not being your girlfriend. Why pretending is so important in our society?

Prostitution coexisted alongside with the different moral codes in a variety of national cultures through the ages. In some cultures, there was a tradition coined by historians as the sacred prostitution. That means the girls who served in the temples could provide their bodies to the worshipers as some kind of sacred medium for connection to the divinity and also earn some offerings for the temple of their goddess. For example, as considered it was a common thing for Aphrodite’s temple in Corinth. But why then in so many ages the society did not find a proper place for this kind of activity?

In 1949, the United Nations issued a convention against prostitution, but to a current day, it is less than the hundred countries of the world that ratified it. And a list of those who refused to sign it includes the US, Germany, and many others. On the other side, there are still a few countries that legalized the matter taking it under control, like any other kind of business.

The Netherlands is the country especially famous for its liberal attitude towards everything. But the truth is that in the Netherlands the legal industry of prostitution has a value of something like 800 million dollars when in Switzerland a similar legalized sector of the economy has an estimation of approximately 3.5 billion dollars. And that means even a more significant disproportion when comparing the outcomes of industry per capita as Switzerland is less populated than the Netherlands. Not saying, that Germany’s legal sector is over 18 billion. And it is not saying about estimations of the illegal sectors in some other countries that are even more than that. All the world value both legal and illegal is stated by some sources to be around 185 billion dollars. The problem is that the governments of the world cannot stop this and that means that a considerable portion of this money comes into the hands of criminal syndicates around the globe. And that is very easy to suggest that this money is used for the people smuggling, drugs trafficking, and buying weapons.

Who wins in this war? And why the governments let these huge sums flow out of their views? And what if our society is somehow based on the lies more than on the true facts? But maybe, this antagonism between a big part of the society and the prostitution industry is somehow based on something that cannot be erased from the genes of humanity? Maybe there is something that keeps this latent conflict on the stage, no matter what? As usual, there are still more questions than answers to be found.

Oct, 31. from Dictaphone Record. by Martin

Then it was time to find the girl. Actually, I already knew a big lot about her from a file. Pile of data telling what her height and weight are, and what her other physical measurements are. Also, I knew where she works, what company had hired her, what her career was and what her career is, and there was also a little on what her career can be in future. I knew about her parents and origins in general. I knew, of course, all of her contact data including address and phone number. And there also was a lot of other stuff about her of smaller interest. But maybe it is just my old-fashioned journalist’s habit – to find at least more than one source on the same subject, to have it a little in stereo.

When you try to find someone’s traces on the web, and for this purpose, you start going through social networks, you can easily find a lot of people with the same name. Especially if this name is not a rare one, as it was in my case. But to be able to find the actual social pages of Sue – or Susan, that is her first name – I just filled in a little more specific information including education, age, and hometown. And that was not indeed that hard after all. To my disappointment – or was it a disappointment? – social pages did not prove to be a comprehensive source on her, as she rarely used them. Me, I think if someone does not use the social media too much, then there can be two most common explanations. First is that for this person, a computer is not his or her pet friend. And second is that real life is too bright for this person and then there is no need for a virtual living that much.

And in general, I found not a lot of new facts. And most of what I found was only a confirmation of some info from the file. And on the web, there was just a little part of data on her if compared to the file. There was only one little peculiar thing to add to her image. She once posed as Playboy magazine model. And of course, I could not stand the temptation to find the photo shoot on one of the internet pages. I had experienced only a little weak thought telling me that it was possibly not a correct thing to do. To try to know how a person looks without clothes just before you are going to meet her. But that little thought was weak for sure, and it vanished earlier than I was able to recognize it. In the end, she knew what she was doing. To pose nude for a periodical issue means that some other people will be able to see it, I suppose. Her photo shoot appeared in one of the Latin American editions. She gained a desirable title of Playmate of the month. The photo shoot itself was quite a usual one for this sort of magazines. The sunny ocean side served as location. And the girl was barely nude on almost all of the photographs. On some photographs, she had white jeans on. The best photo was probably that one where her silhouette stood against the sunset so that she presented something like some statue on the background of the scarlet sky. On this picture, her figure was dark against the sun. And she stretched herself up like some strangely beautiful plant. Was it sexy? Yes, for sure. There was also something like a mixture of interview and personal data. Personal data was a usual data, of course. Height, weight, and the size of her breasts. Plus she answered some questions. All it was written in Spanish and my knowledge of this language to which Cervantes and Lope de Vega belonged is quite limited. Despite this fact, with use of a web translator, I got information in general. There was nothing that seemed to be very useful, only some specific facts of her bio and some her particular preferences. For example, she said that once she was deeply in love with a woman and also that she adores her ex-boyfriends and she is crazy about oral sex. That all did not contribute to her personal image too much but probably had some effect on me. Probably that was just because a girl is pretty and that is the thing which usually influences the perception of a lonely man.

Well… I had some summary on her, but could not imagine what she would be in reality. I knew that she is a pretty blonde girl. She is baby-faced. Though not too much. Childish smile, beautiful breasts, thin waist. And she is not tall. Also, she had a few little tattoos. And one of them, for example, presented a name Lolita written in some old typewriter letters on the side of her palm. And also it looked like she prefers to be considered sexy, imaginative and probably even a little kinky. I mean, she is a girl who cares about what people think about her looks. And perhaps she just wants the people to think about her looks. In our days, physical exhibitionism is not enough for people. They would also like to take off mentally. But all that did not tell me what she was indeed.

After completing a brief profile, I went outside to search for more details in the field. The simplest way to find out more was to see the girl sometime after her working hours and at the same time to see what place where she is employed looks like. I didn’t want to encounter her at her apartment’s door, because I believe that the people, when they meet you for the first time, are more collaborative in public places, but less in their private place or near it. So, this way there could be more chances to fix a possible interview. I am involved in quite a strange matter now. And so, I need to know her side of the story as she is one of the principals in it.

As I arrived at the place, I encountered another tower of power. It was a tall glass-and-stone building, where another mighty faceless corporation nested. And somewhere in between a tenth and a fifteenth floor, a blonde girl with a pretty face was executing her primitive tasks as one of the thousands of office employees, who were placed on an almost lowest grade of career pyramid and who spend usual 38 hours a week for the sake of the firm’s existence. My first idea was to go the easiest way. At the reception desk, I gave a name and occupation of the person I was searching for. I simply asked whether I could talk to her. To my surprise, I did not get what I wanted. A girl at reception was not able to find anyone with this name. She told me, in case I had no appointment, I better had to go off.

It was almost the end of a working day, and five minutes after a reception desk proved to be useless, I stood outside, thinking how I would try to find her next time. Then suddenly, I recognized something with the corner of my eye, and that was something that seemed subconsciously important. It was a girl. It was the girl, and she was walking toward me. I saw a face which was now so much familiar to me. She walked past me, and I turned, watching her back for an instant. Then I hurriedly cast a name Susan from behind her, but a girl did not turn around and kept going away. I was almost disappointed and almost ready to run for her. After an instant more, I almost screamed Sue in one desperate syllable. She turned back and looked at me without big puzzlement. I made a step forward, and she suddenly smiled her childish smile.

I think I would like to talk to you. I told her. Then I explained that I am a journalist and I make some film and if she doesn’t see any problem with it, I would like to interview her. She agreed almost immediately, and we fixed when and where we would meet. When I was going to bed this day, I didn’t think about problems concerning current documentary filmmaking, but mostly about how the girl, who wasn’t exactly perfect and maybe didn’t look entirely like a superwoman from the Hollywood blockbuster, was indeed very pretty. She was indeed nicely pretty when even all of her clothes were on.

Nov, 2. Morning and Day. Private Audio Diary of Elise. by Elise

That was the day when I did not want to go somewhere and to do something. Maybe I just felt melancholic, and so, it was a feeling that all I could do today was to be lazy or to be sleepy. Actually, it was supposed to be vacant. But a day before, Martin asked me to appear at the studio to provide some help. He said there was something he would like me to watch with him together. He said he was not quite sure about what it was on the video record he had.

When I arrived at the studio, Martin did not wait until I would prepare another cup of coffee for myself. He asked me to come closer to his monitor. What he had shown to me was some security kind of footage. Black-and-white video with a viewpoint a little from above. You can’t see faces in general, and you don’t hear any sound because actually, there is no any sound. As it looked, a location was some office. That was a usual office. And footage represented some very long – as I could judge by the timeline of player – combination of some episodes of a usual office life featuring mostly two girls. As it was evident by their clothing and figures, that were the same two girls almost in every part of the footage. Their faces were not clear, but after some time they started to seem recognizable. I still was not sure that I could identify any of them if I would meet any of the two on the street, but at least in this security footage, it seems I could identify them from the others. The one was blonde, and another had a darker hair and was taller. A taller one looked to be a little more of a leader in their couple. At least, it subconsciously seemed to be so from their body language. What I thought about was whether they always use hidden cameras to watch how employees work at the office. It is one thing to watch for thieves in the supermarkets and another – to control every manager in the corporate building. And my second thought was about what the girls were doing.

And what Martin actually asked me was – What do you think they are doing? Do you see something except usual things? What I saw was that they were talking, passing to each other some papers. Sometimes the one could cast a short glance at the other. I didn’t see anything except usual things. That is probably what any two do to each other when they are familiar, and they share working space. I am not telepathic or something. So, I hardly can declare something sure looking at some people exchanging glances as part of some plot-free silent BW movie. In a silent movie with Chaplin, they at least show the words on a black screen to make a viewer know what the hell is going on. And at least in a typical silent movie, there are some jokes like someone falling after stepping on a banana skin. I saw nothing exceptional or specific, and I was puzzled about where Martin took this footage from. And what purpose he followed with this I didn’t know. Can it help to make some documentary film? Maybe that will be the first ever black-and-white silent documentary. And then it may make a revolution on the next Cannes film festival. I suppose critics will piss with the boiled liquid out of pure excitement.

And finally, after a couple of hours in which we tried to see something in this footage, Martin informed me that he made an appointment for an interview and if I don’t mind, he would like me to be present on the spot at the day. I did not mind, and so I will meet the interviewee too, in a couple of days from now.

And now I am going to sleep, so – end of a line.

Nov, 5. Susan’s Interview One. from Dictaphone Record. by Martin and Elise

Martin: What we are going to talk about is an extraordinary case. We talked about it with you on the phone yesterday. And as you remarked yourself, it is not easy to believe that all of this is quite true. And now as you agreed to talk to me not concealing any facts, I’m going to ask you once more the same question as yesterday. Are you really ready to talk about all of this?

Susan: Yes. I’m ready… Absolutely.

M.: As I told you before, if there are any reasons for it, for example, if you are afraid that someone may use this information against you somehow or if there is any personal threat to you or to someone who has a relation to you, you may decide to tell not everything. But in this case, we just need to set the limits of our talks.

S.: Well… No. I don’t think there is something… threatening. I don’t think there is something to hide from people. Absolutely so. And I didn’t commit any sort of crime in my life. I suppose… I think that if anybody on any TV show would ask me, I am ready to tell the entire story. All the true. I mean I would tell it to any open media source without any problems.

M.: Sure?

S.: It’s OK. You may just ask.

M.: And one more thing. I asked my friend to support me in this interview. Her name is Elise. What I mean, she may add some additional focus for things. Don’t you mind this?

Elise: So? Can I stay, Susan?

S.: Sure. And you may call me Sue.

M.: Then, let’s begin. First things first. And what I’m going to ask you, in the beginning, is – when and how did it all start?

S.: You mean… When did it begin?

M.: Exactly. I mean, when it was that moment when you might say you felt your life began to change. Just tell the first line of the story.

S.: Well. It all began as I suppose… when Jane appeared. When Jane appeared in my life and at our office.

M.: And who is Jane?

S.: Jane is a girl who worked with me. She is not from our town. As I know, she lived in the other city. She worked for our company for some years, and when she moved from her hometown, she got a place in our city.

M.: Can you describe her? What was she like? Tell us something about her personality.

S.: Jane – If I would try to describe her in a single word – I think I would just spell her name. Jane [soft laughter]. Well, when I saw her for the first time, my only thought was that she is a pretty woman. Maybe it is better to say that she is almost striking… beautiful. No. She is. Striking beauty. Jane is a little taller than me. And she has red hair. And she is very good-looking.

M.: What were your relations when she just appeared at your office?

S.: From the very beginning, we did well. And after a week I would say we made friends. Yes, I think we were friends on a second week after we met. We were doing some similar stuff at the office. And after the first week, uh, we always spent coffee breaks together. We mostly were chatting about different things. I found out that Jane was not only good-looking but also a lovely, smart, and well-humored person. She was a fantastic company. She was fun.

S.: And then, one day, she told me some story. I could believe it or not. As I wish. She said it was my choice to believe it or not because a story was, no matter, an interesting one. Just she kinda tells me I better do not tell it some other people, at least as a true story. She tells me that there is some funny, unusual work she has on the side. There is some Agency that does not advertise its services too much. It is some kind of private entertainment company – a nice little company. And it helps people to diversify, to widen one’s sexual life. But actually, it is nothing like an escort agency. It is just different.

M.: But then, what did the Agency offer to customers?

S.: It offered some different things. It offered some sort of private entertainment. It was not necessary for someone from the Agency to make love to customer… That could be different. Me, I am not that conscious about prostitution. It is quite a regular thing in our society. Just me, myself, I am not sure I can do it for money. Of course, I like sex like anybody else, but it is a bit different [laughter]. But I don’t have anything against the sex workers. Sure. As Jane told me, the difference is that they try to give an adventure to a person. Some kind of sexy adventure, if you want. The major principle is that they organize it all only when they know well enough what the person really wants. Yes. That’s the thing. But the scenario should be somehow unexpected for her or for him. And yes, there is a scenario. It is an important part of it. I mean how they do it. There is the scenario, and it is prepared according to this person’s unrealized desires.

E.: So, do I understand it correctly? There is some kind of stage show?

S.: Well, no. It is not like a stage show. Maybe in something. A person is involved in some story, adventure. And the Agency makes this person feel good in the way.

M.: Person? – You mean a customer?

S.: No. Actually, not. This person is almost never the customer. I mean it is not the one placing the order. Services… are ordered by someone who knows this person well, who is close to him or her somehow. This one helps us to know about a person. In some exceptional cases this person – the Lead Hero…

M.: Lead Hero?

S.: That is how this person is called. The Lead Hero. It is just another specific term to make a long story short. So, this LH is almost never the one who contracts the Agency personally. It is this way only in some rare, exceptional cases. It is possible, but it is not a rule.

M.: All these things, did Jane tell about them all at once?

S.: No. I actually revealed it all after, in process. I mean, she told some general things. I was a bit intrigued by it. I did not know why she told it to me. Of course, she was always able to entertain me with her stories during a break and after hours, when we met in some cafe or at a nightclub.

M.: And what did happen next?

S.: She asked whether I wanted to fill the vacancy in the Agency.

M.: She did it the same day as she told you… the story?

S.: No. She did it after a couple of days. She said there would be nothing tricky, nothing I was not able to do. And she said for the first time I would not need to do something special. And also she said that they would teach me everything I needed to know when indeed there was not a lot of it. And also she said if I didn’t like it, I could quit at any moment. She said I was possibly a good fit for them. I didn’t know what to answer. Usually, if she took me somewhere to do something funny, I would agree immediately, because it is always a nice time with Jane. I mean she knows how to have fun. But in this case, I was not sure. For a couple of days, I was considering her proposition, and then I just decided to see what it was like. I mean, to see the place and what it was. I was not that sure I would agree. Though, Jane was always the most persuasive person. She easily can persuade anybody.

Nov, 5. Evening. Private Audio Diary of Elise. by Elise

When Martin said that there would be an interview this evening, I did not know who would be our guest. I only knew that her name was Susan. Martin asked me whether I could stay for one more hour at the studio. We supposed to record an interview with someone. When this someone arrived, I had a feeling that I probably saw her somewhere before. And then I understood that it was that blonde girl from a strange videotape. I mean… there was nothing strange about the videotape, but it was strange that the footage seemed so useless. I thought maybe then I would be able to understand at least a little what it all was about. And then when I saw a girl, at least I knew her looks clearly. But that isn’t much. I was actually unprepared for an interview. She entered the door and at first exposed some little indecisiveness when interrupting her way through the room. Then she laughed and tried to look really self-assured and made a few quick motions approaching a stool. As she was sitting there… At the first moment that made me think that she was probably infantile, maybe a little infantile, but not too much. Though maybe it was her looks that made me feel so. She is not very tall, and her face is a little childish you may say.

As I wasn’t prepared to take an active part in the interview, I thought maybe Martin would like me to be present just to have some kind of witness. Or something. Maybe he needed to have someone else there in the room to break a possible intimacy. I mean… to be not tet-а-tet with this girl. And most probably these both reasons applied for my presence. An interview isn’t anything like a date. So, when you happen to talk with a young blonde girl who likes to talk about sex, there should be some additional requirements. At least there should be someone else present. Better a woman. Despite the fact that I still can’t clearly understand what fun it can be in this matter for me, I became curious about some of the things. As Martin sometimes uses to say – and I would quote him not because he is a great philosopher, but only because this time the phrase really fits in – journalism is probably a kind of illness. On my side, I would add that it is an illness of brain and sometimes a strange one. And first of all, I became interested in what we will reveal in the next chapter of the Blondish Tale. Let’s call it that for a while. And also I am curious about what is the degree of stupidity – or probably, smartness – of our leading character. Just to practice my ability to recognize the human qualities. My intuition. Kinda. As Martin said, we will meet her again after a few days. I think I will have a chance to know. And also I remember how Martin asked her whether I could be present. And the blonde doll took a short pause, and her eyes widened a little. And then she permitted it, and she was looking at me in some way. Call me Sue. She said so after a pause still having this gaze. My intuition gave me a hint at the moment. What I think about it now is that the girl is definitely bisexual.

The fifth of November, end of a line.

Description of Video One. from Dictaphone Record. by Martin

I interviewed Susan for the first time. Despite the fact that I previously had plans for a couple of projects more, now I felt almost entirely engaged with this one. Let’s tell the world about Susan because Mr. Shadow wants it so much. And who am I? Am I more than an instrument in this matter? I ask myself again and again in recent days. But now I am too much interested in the truth, about the essence of this story. Who? Why? – are the two questions keeping to twist in my mind. And also the plot itself seems to be very intriguing. Quite spicy. In some way.

And then it was time to follow the next line from my personal instructions. And they told me that before interviewing Sue again, it was time to play another video. I got ready and launched a flash drive. Instructions prescribed that I can’t copy files provided to me on my computer and that I should disable any internet connection before watching them, in case I watch them on a device able for a web connection.

What did I see in this video? I don’t know. I mean I am not really able to tell precisely. Video had two parts. In the first one, a location was some apartment. In the beginning, two female figures appeared. I almost immediately supposed it was Sue and Jane. They were dressed differently for sure, but still could be quite recognizable in comparison to the office footage featuring them. They stood with their backs to a camera angle. And the camera was placed somewhere close to the ceiling as it seemed because a point of view was from above. For few instants, they stood rather close to each other and watched through window glass. Then as it seemed by her gesture, Jane asked Susan to come closer. Sue was still standing apart from her. And then she was watching her. Then Sue came closer. And Jane held out her hand and pointed to something across the street probably. Then they kept watching there. And they were talking a little. For a while. Then Jane disappeared from the view and reappeared again having something long and cylindrical in her hand. It was hard to tell what it exactly was, it could be some sort of bat or something else, but as she put a thinner end of it to her face, I understood that it was a spyglass or some sort of portable telescope removed from a tripod. She was looking at the other side of the street. And after a couple of seconds, she gave the tube to Susan. Sue took it slowly like being not sure about it. She cast a flashing glance at the internal side of the room. And then she also began looking through a spyglass at the other side of a street. For at least five minutes they kept watching this way, exchanging their observer instrument with each other. And after that, Susan looked at an internal side of the room for one more time. This time she did it more certainly. Her gaze was longer and was surely directed at some spot. It seemed that Jane somehow provoked it with some words she said because after a while she also looked in this direction. And only then I noticed that.

There was something else inside the room. And this something was hidden inside the dark spot of the shadow. And the angle of the camera also hid it as the camera was more focused on another side of room’s space. I tried to identify what it was. And it is more correct to say – who it was. All I could see. As it seemed to me… This video footage isn’t clear that much, I say again. Well, it was two legs. Appearing from the dark. Someone was sitting in the corner. And that was a woman as I supposed looking at forms of her legs and design of shoes on them. It was difficult to identify anything even about her shoes, but at least they seemed to be a female pair of shoes. With that little to be seen, this figure looked mysterious, powerful and challenging. What was her part in it? Was she the Lead Hero? How could I tell about it when I even didn’t know what was going on?! When you don’t know the play, you can’t say what role one of the actors has in it. Do I tell something that looks to be so evident? Next thing that happened was that Jane came closer to a mysterious figure comfortably sitting in the dark. At this moment Susan moved aside in the frame. And then she stood leaning against the wall in the right part of a picture. It was her figure that was visible clearly enough then, but not her face. But from her pose, as she touched the wall with the palms of her hands and bent her legs slowly moving down in softly sliding motion, that all looked rather sexy, even in the sight of the uncertain picture.