Reports

The Colonel was reading the latest reports with a frown. News varied between bad and bizarre.

 

[blanked out], operative at the firm of Julian Murray

“Julian Murray appeared at the departure point and boarded the plane. When arriving in Paris, he was seen leaving the plane and in the airport. He was seen entering the subway. [blanked out] noticed that Julian Murray failed to exit the subway at the right spot.  Since then, he wasn’t spotted anymore.

Julian Murray never appeared at the hotel. Interrogation of the hotel staff learned that nobody had seen him.

At the second day of the team building, a female with the name Marie Keenan declared taking the spot of Julian Murray. She appeared to be a recent hire.

Further questioning the hotel staff, lead to [blanked out], receptionist, signing in Ms Keenan. [blanked out] declared Ms Keenan was escorted in by the police after being caught in the riots two days ago in Paris. She appeared to have a mail with the reservation details, given to her by Julian Murray last week.

[blanked out], one of the organisers, declared that Marie Keenan showed her contract to the organisers.

Besides me, nobody seemed to question the absence of Julian Murray.

Request: investigation of the background of Marie Keenan.

Waiting for further instructions.

Included: expense note for food and drinks to facilitate the data gathering.”

 

Captain Green

“Arrived at the venue of the team building.

Filled the prepared spot on the staff.

No trace found off Julian Murray.

Our operative failed completely to keep track of Mr Murray.

Hacking of the hotel database, revealed replacement of the reservation of Julian Murray by Marie Keenan. Julian Murray never appeared in the hotel. Study of the security camera footage acknowledged that Julian Murray never entered the hotel.

Link between Julian Murray and Marie Keenan unclear.

Request permission to approach DGSE to trace the path of Julian Murray from the airport to his current whereabouts.

Request permission to investigate Marie Keenan. Picture included.”

 

Surveillance of Henry Marshal

“Henry Marshal was arrested this morning for breaking and entering in a university laboratory and freeing all the test animals.

He keeps on spreading pamphlets on animal welfare and opposition to the use of animals in research.

He keeps on trying to go to public places to preach about Misty, the lab rat, who had opened his eyes. He keeps disclosing secret information on the exceptional behaviour of the lab rat after the modification.

He keeps on posting on various fora to gain support for his religion. He follows the same path of recognition of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

Request: intervention at the justice department to relocate Henry Marshal to a mental institute.”

 

Analysis of Marie Keenan

“4 occurrences of the name Marie Keenan found.

None of those correspond with the Marie Keenan from the picture.

Nobody fitting the description and/or name Marie Keenan crossed the border.

Likelihood of false name: 95%

Origin: unknown

Nationality: unknown

Languages: English & French, unknown which one is the native tongue

Threat assessment by standard computer models: medium to high”

 

The Colonel was leaning back on his chair. He took a sip of his glass of water and stared to the page with a large picture of Ms Keenan.

Marie Keenan was clearly placed. But by who? Was she an active operative, working together with Julian Murray? Which organisation did Mr Murray belong to? Previous analysis of Julian Murray revealed nothing suspicious. A boring father with a boring job. His sudden disappearance, together with a 95% certainty of using the alias ‘John Cawry’, upgraded him to extremely suspicious. He reread the report of the visit and confrontation of Julian Murray. It was very hard to get a clear judgement on the report. His behaviour was, or very clumsy, or extremely well trained. The Colonel tended to the latter. It never hurt to expect the worst.

The worst also meant that the research results of Henry Marshal were in the hands of an unknown third party. It also meant that the current information on Julian Murray was fake.

After a few minutes he started composing a plan. He sighed. This was a plan he had to take higher up. He hated asking permission. He got his best results when he wasn’t being watched from above. He needed more intel and for that he needed cooperation of other agencies. Such liaisons were above his paygrade. He’ll get someone detached to his team as contact if all goes well.

He sent out instructions to Captain Green to stand by until further notice. Investigation by DGSE was under request. Meanwhile he was to get close and bound with Marie Keenan. Extreme cautiousness was advised. Prepared for extraction of Marie Keenan to the interrogation space when the team building was done.

He sent out instructions to the operative inside the firm of Mr Murray, to observe Marie Keenan and assemble as much information as possible through co-workers. He labelled Marie Keenan as suspicious and dangerous. He ordered the operative to follow any instruction given by Captain Green.

He sent out instructions to Captain Yellow to arrange a fake relocation of Henry Marshal to one of their facilities suited for mental care. It was time to get him of the streets.

 

---

Modelling

Two more days and the team building was done. This morning I woke up as Marie. It took me a while to realize this after waking up. Transformation was still a pain to execute but it has gotten easier. Waking up as Marie was unexpected and a tad troubling.

“If I didn’t turn back to Julian automatically, how will I get back to be myself?” I thought a bit scared.

I never tried to consciously turn back into my true self. I was very tempted to try but decided against. I couldn’t risk getting stuck as Julian.

I could tell from the lack of hunger that I didn’t shift at all. Getting ready took a lot less time and I was very early at breakfast, eagerly looking around if Sam was already there. Since yesterday he joined our group, causing longing stares from the girls. But they all agreed he was mine to take. I still wasn’t sure what to do with him. I was still very much in internal conflict. He was witty. He was smart. He always smelled great. He was very handsome. He was extremely male!

“I am really attracted to men now, am I?” I thought. I shook my head and tried to get Sam out of my thoughts.

I was sitting at the table with my coffee when suddenly, I felt a hand on my shoulder.

“Here you are,” Sam said.

My heart jumped up. Both from the surprise and from the surprise being Sam. He leaned in for a kiss on the cheek. Standard greeting. I saw his lips approach and was very temped to intercept him for a real kiss. Much to both my stress and my relief, we didn’t kiss again since that first time at the club. It was like he was waiting for something. An initiative of me, perhaps? I was clueless. I couldn’t get my head around, if not kissing Sam again was good or bad. If was emotionally completely garbled.

“Hi Sam! Good morning! How did you sleep?” I responded. I didn’t let out a short shriek, didn’t I? I sure hope not.

“Hi lovebirds!” Crystal chimed in. Ding! Blushing again.

“Don’t tease!” I objected. “We just like each other. Nothing more.”

“Omg, why did I say this? I hope this doesn’t push Sam away.” I thought.

“You guys kissed! That gives me the right to tease!” Crystal exclaimed happily.

“I didn’t know Sam was one of the instructors of our team building!” I stated. Desperately hoping that Crystal would tune down.

“Crystal, are you teasing our couple again?” Caro said arriving at our table with a devious smile.

“Oh you both! You are awful!” I exclaimed and they started laughing.

Meanwhile Sam was quietly biting bits of his croissant, watching us silently with twinkling eyes, a big smile and a little hint of a blush of his own.

Today we had some team trust workshop, a museum visit and shopping time. I wasn’t looking forward to the shopping time. After paying back Janice for the cloths she bought me, my bank account was seriously dented. Even if she insisted on not paying back everything.

“Shopping fun! Paying bad!” I realized surprised. I never was the shopping person. But with our group, it was not bad. It was actually fun times. We already had one shopping spree this week and this would be our second. I got a bit flustered at first seeing the girls showing of risqué cloths or underwear, but I got over it. Mostly.

Yesterday we went swimming. That was a challenge. I never wore a bikini before. And I surely never swam being a woman. All in all, it was ok. Even if I was the laughing stock of our group after a fluent dive caused me to lose the upper part of my bikini. I broke a shame-record. But it was also a bit hilarious. So in the end, I laughed happily together with my friends.

After breakfast, Sam pulled me in a secluded corner, out of sight of most people and gave me a kiss. A good one! It felt so right!

“This is not ok,” I though. “He is an instructor and I’m an attendant of this venue. We shouldn’t do this… What??? Uuuhm! We shouldn’t do this because I’m a MAN!” I eagerly corrected my thoughts.

“See you this evening, Marie, I’m off to work,” he said.

“Yes, till this evening. Have a nice time,” I stammered. Completely caught off-guard. “Why did he do this? Did he read my thoughts about kissing him when he approach me at the table?”

When I walked back, Caro gave me thumbs up. Clearly, she saw what happened. Luckily she was somewhat discrete about it. The day passed quickly and before I knew we were out shopping. Caro saw a bridal shop and before I realized what happened, we were barging in the shop.

We explained to the shop owner that we didn’t want to buy a wedding dress now but that we wanted to get some ideas for a dress for when the time was right. He was a bit reluctant but agreed with a measly petty condition. Crystal and I had to model at least two dresses and he could take pictures and use them for promotion. Before I could object, the girls cheered loudly.

“For crying out loud! What kinda death trap am I in now!” I thought with a cringe.

There were two fitting cubicles. Crystal and I each got sentenced to one. And then the real punishment started. First we had to strip to our undies.

The store owner, Jeffrey, was showing the rest of the gang around on different styles and dresses he offered. Flora immediately picked the dress she loved. A completely over the top long dress covered in lace details and embroidery and beads with an overly long trail. It looked a bit like every possible technique to assemble a wedding dress exploded and meshed together to form this creation.

She was immediately drawing the attention of Jeffrey to get help to move the ivory white pile to us. I was so relieved she picked Crystal as her victim to try this one. Crystal’s eyes widened, slightly taken aback.

“So, I’m not the only one thinking that modelling this monster is a brutal challenge.” I thought happily. “This is going to be the utmost strangest day of my life. I’m going to where the same type of clothes I drooled upon when my wife married me. On top on that, I’m probably going to look a bit prettier.” I considered strangely excited.

Janice blindsides me with a an exquisite ensemble with a tight form-fitting sleeveless white dress combined with a short asymmetrical jacket. Both parts were decorated with very tasteful embroidery and a few beads as accents.

“I’m supposed to try out this one?”, I muttered unbelievingly. In the corner of my eyes, I saw Crystal look with a bit of envy in her eyes.

Janice followed me in the cubicle to help me dress. I had to remove my bra for this one. I never had breasts before but I felt extremely aware and conscious about them and had to bite back a bit of a blush and natural hiding response.

“Oh my, I was kind of expecting this, but you really are epically built. You are just sheer perfection,” she exclaimed unhelpingly. The biting-back-the-blush effort was obliterated by this remark and I think even my toes turned red.

“Charming,” she added with a wink.

I rolled my eyes. “Get on with it. How do I even put this one on.”

“It has a hidden zipper,” she said while opening it. She spread out the dress on the floor and I stepped in it. Then she pulled it up very carefully. I had the feeling I didn’t earn enough in a year to cover the cost of this dress.

It was a very foreign feeling to have someone else touch my boobs to arrange them in the preformed cups. My nipples immediately reacted and became hyper sensitive and a bit stiff. I bit my lip and pretended nothing happened.

“You are really made for this dress, you know?” Janice said admiringly while zipping me up.

She helped me in the jacket. I couldn’t help but notice the narrow sleeves that made my arms look slender and very gracious. The sleeves ended in some sort of semi transparent gloves which continued the embroidery patterns on the sleeves.

Janice took a step back and instantly got a dreamy look in her eyes. Jeffrey called Janice and handed her a fine golden necklace made of multiple golden loops and with a small heart formed with pearls in front. She put it on me. After a critical look she pulled a white scrunchie out of her handbag and pulled my hair up into a messy bun.

“A pity you don’t wear earrings and that we don’t have our make-up gear with us.” She muttered thoughtfully.

“Oh merciful gods! I escaped that one,” I thought.

After a last inspection and some small corrections to the dress, Janice guided me outside the cubicle into the “show” area.

When I came out, I heard a chorus of gasps.

“Omg! You look so pretty!” Caro exclaimed clapping her hands.

“You could give pro models a run for their money!”, Flora added, looking aside the curtain of Crystal’s fitting cubicle.

Jeffrey stood there looking at me with big eyes and an extremely broad smile.

“Merveilleux! Absolument parfait!” (Beautiful! Absolutely perfect!) he said happily.

I took a deep breath and walked towards the mirrors. They were set in a half a round with an additional long mirror on the diameter facing the other mirrors to provide an almost 360° vision of oneself. My mouth fell open.

“A bit more beautiful then my ex-wife?” I screamed inside myself, “I’m from a freaky other beauty planet. There is no way to compare us.”

“If I would see someone, looking like I do now, walking to me, if I was my male self, I would sink through the floor in shame for how the male me looked. I would never believe such an angelic creature would approach me.” I screamed to myself in my head.

And yet, there I was. Marie Keenan. Goddess in a wedding dress. It was too much. I felt like I was going to faint. I think Caro noticed it, because she suddenly appeared at my side, grabbing my elbow.

“Are you alright?” she asked.

“Yes,” I answered hesitantly, “I just never saw myself this way.”

“Well, we all knew you were very pretty. But in this outfit… you are divine perfection.”, Caro spoke sincerely. She kept looking me all over and over again, drinking in the sight.

“Let’s go to Jeffrey. He’ll surely want to take some pictures and so do I,” Caro added, guiding me back.

When we came back, Crystal just emerged. The dress she was wearing was over the top, but because of her length, her athletic built, her beauty and her presence, it looked fantastic. I don’t think I know anyone who could pull it off to wear that wedding dress.

She looked at me and screamed, “Girl! You are unbelievably beautiful! I’m straight but looking at you makes me wonder if being bi would be so bad!”

“Floor! Eat me now and leave no morsel behind!” I commanded silently, cherry red.

“You look absolutely fantastic too.” I muttered trying to get away from the attention. The other girls nodded enthusiastically.

I walked to Crystal and hugged her carefully. She was truly a sight to behold, but I saw she was a little uncomfortable in her dress.

“No very comfy to wear?” I whispered in her ear.

She quickly rolled her eyes after pulling out of the hug, while casting a quick glance at Flora. She didn’t have to say anything. Her facial expression was more than enough.

Jeffrey silently motioned us to a part of the shop fit to take pictures.

“Vous êtes deux femmes avec une beauté éthérée.“ (You are two women of ethereal beauty) , he said.

He started taking pictures from us together and separate from different angles. He asked for a few poses while taking shots. I had no idea what he meant, but Crystal did, so I mimicked her and that appeared to be exactly what he asked. The rest of the girls filled their cell phones with images of us.

After a twenty minutes we went back for round number two. This time Jeffery pulled out two dresses. They were both very formfitting with a somewhat open back. Crystals dress had in the back a lace ribbon with pearls forming a repeating abstract pattern. Mine had an almost see-through tule with an intricate design of a heart formed with lace and sequins. Both dresses were extremely tasteful. Corresponding contemporary design, the skirt parts ended in a hint of colour. Light blue for crystal, reddish light pink for mine.

This time when we came out, they apparently had opted for catcalls! Crystal and I both shook our heads. After a few minutes admiring ourselves and a zillion pictures taken we went to change back to our normal clothes. After my first embarrassment, this was surprisingly fun.

Especially the moment a couple entered to shop for a wedding dress. The bride-to-be took one good look at us, looked beside her, at her groom-to-be, who was openly staring at us, turned heels and left. I heard her say something like:

“Maintenant, ce n’est pas le bon moment, on revient. Et arrête de lorgner!" (Now is not a good time, we will come back. And stop staring!)

After they closed the door, it took me a few seconds to realize what just happened. When I did, I almost peed in my pants from laughing. It took me five minutes before I succeeded in explaining what I heard. I just couldn’t form the words while laughing. My stomach and my cheeks hurt.

Jeffrey was ultimately very happy with our visit, although we didn’t buy anything. He gave us his card and asked us if he could call us if he needed models for a show. I shuddered at the thought but accepted the card nonetheless. Crystal was beaming while putting hers away. We left our email addresses and also signed a consent form for using the pictures for promotion. We all got a 20% discount card from him for if we ever wanted to buy a wedding dress in his store. Generous but totally useless. If I remembered right, the cheapest wedding dress I saw was around € 4000. Needless to say I couldn’t afford that.

We went outside in a good mood, talking and joking among each other.

A middle aged man and his son crossed our paths and suddenly, the son stumbled and bumped with his ice cream into Caro. She tried to step away but tripped and fell against Flora. The three of them ended up on a pile on the walkway. Ice cream everywhere.

“Oh sorry, sorry, sorry!” the man exclaimed while trying to help everyone entangle. A bystander approached with paper towels.

“Here, to clean a bit of the mess,” he said, offering some to Caro, Flora and the boy.

The boy looked petrified. He was staring at the remains of his ice cream and peeking at the large chocolate and vanilla spots on Caro’s and Flora’s clothes. Suddenly I felt a sharp pain in my thigh. I looked down, just fast enough to see a syringe being pulled away.

“What the heck?” I thought and turned around. I saw two males standing together watching me closely.

I tried to say “Help” but I was already wobbling and everything was starting to get fuzzy and blurry. I was falling and the last thing I felt was being caught by two strong arms and being dragged away.