Miss Eliza Kensington

One of the car’s door slid open and a long, bared leg was hoisted into the back, followed by the rest of the person, who turned out to be a woman, in her late twenties.

“This, Hauk, is your new partner.” Xerxes said, “Miss Eliza Kensington, an agent of the FBI.”

Miss Kensington turned out to be buxom and voluptuous as well as leggy, and her auburn hair was neatly cut in a fashionably straight way, while her cool blue eyes were scrutinizing Hauk and her lush red lips were curled into a contemptuous sneer.

“I thought that the FBI was supposed to be fighting against fat, corrupt, violent politicians such as you and that slut in New York…” Hauk commented.

“True,” Xerxes admitted, with an ironic grin, “but Miss Kensington is a woman of negotiable morals and an enterprising disposition.”

“What Xerxes is doing is using a lot of bullshit to say that I’ll do just about anything if there’s a big fat bundle of green dollar bills in it for me.” Miss Kensington’s voice was soft and melodic, very much in dissonance to what she was actually saying.

She was dressed in a dark grey suit jacket and matching skirt. She was not wearing stockings, and inside the front cut of the jacket there was nothing but exposed skin, implying that she wasn’t wearing a blouse or even a bra. Hauk wondered if Kensington was wearing anything under the miniscule skirt, and thought that it be ironic if the g-woman turned out to be wearing a g-string.

“Yeah, I kind of understood that.” Hauk replied.

“God be praised, you’re not as retarded as you look.”

This remark from Kensington caused Xerxes to chuckle quite loudly, grinning at both.

“It sounds like you two will get on together like an house on fire!” The powerful wizard sneered and then pulled out a metal collar from a small briefcase that one of his goons presented to him through the still-opened door.

“Now,” Xerxes offered the collar to Hauk, “put this on.”

“What is it?” Hauk wondered.

“Oh, just a decorative piece of neck-ware, conveniently enchanted with a spell that will blow your head off if you try to cross me.” Xerxes offered Hauk a smile that was about the most sociopathic expression of emotions that the Norseman cleric had ever seen.

“Naturally,” Xerxes went on, “if you refuse to wear it, I have no qualms about blowing your brains out.”

“I suspect that that’s something that you’ll try to do anyway, just later than sooner if I do put it on.” Hauk remarked, but still placed the collar around his neck, shuddering somewhat when he heard it clamp shut, the metal feeling cool against his skin.

“Probably,” Xerxes admitted cheerfully, “but that’s part of the game that we play, isn’t it?”

“Now,” the wizard went on, “I’ll step out of the car and my driver will take you to a place already picked out by Miss Kensington, who has my full and complete confidence, if for no other reason than that she has only received the first half of her payment.”

“You’re really a fucking charmer, aren’t you?” Kensington spat out at Xerxes, who merely smiled and stepped out of the car.

The large limousine slid into movement and moved down the streets, with Kensington and Hauk in the back.

Hauk tried to communicate with Kensington, who merely responded with grunts and single syllables, indicating that she no interest in speaking with him.
Finally, the car stopped in a large open space, and Kensington told Hauk to step out.
Hauk did so, and was followed by the buxom agent, after which the limousine rolled away again.

“Okay,” Hauk said, looking around at the seemingly abandoned houses that were laid out around the gravelled lot, “so what now?”
“Simple,” Kensington replied, “strip!”