I have seen many strange places in my life but never one as surreal as this. Karik was able be an emotionless viewer in most circumstances, but this one was extreme that it offended his senses.

Directly before him were countless naked women who exuded a type of feminine sexuality that he had never seen before.  Karik was amazed by these women who seemed more comfortable in their own nakedness than most of the men did in their business suits.  But still, this is so very wrong.

Why would Damon bring me here?  He struggled with his inability to answer his own question. As he continued to discern this absurd reality, it occurred to him that these women had completely taken control of his mind.  Karik was hypnotized as he stared at two women sliding their firm, curvaceous naked bodies down a steel pole.  What sort of place is this?  I am smart enough to realize that the devil is a false concept invented in ancient times, but if he did exist then I am certain that this would be his home or at the very least his favorite hangout.

"Ever been to a strip joint before?" Damon asked while Karik remained dumbfounded as he stared at the women.  Karik heard Damon's question yet couldn't gather enough energy to respond.  His eyes were still stuck on the two vixens wrapping their bodies around the steel pole.  Strange urges were beginning to overcome him.

"I said have you ever been to a strip joint before?" repeated Damon.

"What?" Karik replied with a blank gaze.

Damon snapped his fingers in front of Karik's face, momentarily breaking Karik away from his trance. "Come on," Damon said.  "We're blocking the back door.  We've got to go inside."

Damon led Karik further into the dark club with the only light appearing on the naked women being shown off like jewelry in a showcase. Damon prodded him along until a large, muscular, bald black man about the same age as Damon stopped them as they walked inside.  He placed his large hand firmly on Damon's chest.  Karik studied this man dressed in expensive jeans and a long brown leather jacket, wearing flashy gold-rimmed aviator sunglasses.  Sunglasses in the dark?  Karik found that rather strange but then again, in here everything was strange.  "You guys are going to have to use the front door," he said to them. 

The large man took off his sunglasses to get a closer look at the two guys he just stopped.  "Damon, it's you.  Sorry about that, man."  He removed his paw from Damon's chest. The man's sheer size accompanied by one look from his round furrowed face would be enough, Karik assumed, to scare off even the most hardened criminal.

"Elvis," said Damon, "I would like you to meet Karik, my new best friend.  He just saved my life today.  Karik, I would like you to meet Elvis, my former best friend and current roommate." 

Elvis didn't appear to take Damon's comment about his life being saved very seriously.  "So Karik," Elvis said with a disbelieving smile, "it seems that you have now replaced me as Damon's ass-saver."  Elvis then proceeded to smack Damon on his behind. "It's about time," Elvis continued.  "That job was getting tiresome, but I should warn you, it doesn't pay well.  Damon, is the going rate still a pint of Boddington's?"

"Elvis," responded Damon, "I've got to get real with you for a moment.  Two guys in black suits are after my buddy, the kind of black suits you would be familiar with."

"Do you know why?" Elvis asked with his deep raspy voice reminiscent of a blues singer from an era long since departed.

"Haven't got a damn clue," replied Damon.

"They've always got a reason," said Elvis.  "It's usually not very good, but they've always got one." 

Bill had followed Damon and Karik out the back door of Benjamin's and into the strip club.  He also entered from the back door.  As soon as Damon noticed Bill, he winked at Elvis and then hurried Karik off deeper into the club.  Elvis put his hand out on Bill's chest, pushing him back about two feet in the process.  Bill looked up at Elvis ready for a confrontation.

"Hey, buddy," Elvis told him.  "You've got to use the front door just like everybody else."

Bill tried to remove Elvis' hand from his chest but to no avail.  "I am a Federal agent here to take that man in for questioning." He pointed in the general direction of Karik.

"Federal agent? I think you better show me some I.D. pretty fast," Elvis said to Bill as he removed his hand.

Bill pulled out his badge.  Elvis looked it over, impressed by its authenticity.
"I suppose the thousand-dollar black suit on a guy earning maybe fifty grand tops should have been my first clue," replied Elvis. "Be quick and don't scare the women or there will be hell to pay and believe me when tell you, I couldn't give a damn about whatever badge you happen to have. It will only make the beating more enjoyable."

Damon turned back and saw that Elvis had let Bill through, so he shoved Karik into a cubical covered from the front by a curtain. Somebody took Karik's shoulders from behind and pushed him down onto the stool that was in the middle of the tiny compartment.  It was even darker in there than the rest of the club. He felt cool, sensual fingers slide down his neck and shoulders as they slowly made their way to his hips until those fingers tightened around his lower back and held him in place like a vice grip. Karik noticed his breathing was getting heavier, and once again he became oblivious to all outside thoughts.  Then those hands spun his chair around until he was facing his captor, a naked woman.

"Where did he go?" demanded Bill. 

"He left through the front door while you were jerking around with your badge," answered Elvis.  "So sorry."

Bill spoke into his tiny mouthpiece.  He finished his conversation and then looked around. "He's definitely still in here," Bill said. From the front door of the club entered another man in a similar black suit.  The two of them methodically began their search for Karik.

The naked woman now sat on Karik's lap, facing him.  She moved her behind very seductively in circular movements while her ample breasts smothered his face. "Do you like that?" she asked him.

"Huh?" Karik momentarily pulled his face away from her cleavage to glance up at her. Her long dark hair covered her soft shoulders. Her face, the picture of innocence, looked at him enjoying his reactions to her movements; the juxtaposition of his thoughts and reality was not lost upon him. The stripper ran her fingers through Karik's hair as he breathed in her perfume, a vanilla essence with a mild berry undertone, sweet but not overpowering. She did smell nice.  He became motionless with his mouth partially open.  His mind was completely blank.

Damon was standing outside the cubicle when he saw the two men searching for Karik.  They methodically made their way through the club, opening each cubicle, careful not to let Karik slip through their fingers a second time. "Karik, there's no time to finish your business.  We've got to go now!"

Damon didn't get a response from Karik so he opened the cubical curtain and repeated himself, but Karik still did not answer. "Get the hell off of him!" Damon yelled to the stripper.  "Karik, what on God's earth are you doing?"
The stripper continued her lap dance, oblivious to Damon.  In her own way, it appeared to Damon as if she was now in a trance as well, the two of them lost in their actions of sensual perversion.  Karik was still motionless with that strange smile glued to his face.  Time was running out. The agents were closing in on their prey.

"Come on man," Damon yelled. Elvis looked at Damon as if to say, what on earth is going on? Get him the hell out of here. Damon shrugged his shoulders. There was no explanation anymore.

The two men in black suits aggressively shoved Damon aside.  They opened the cubicle curtain and saw the stripper sitting on Karik's lap, aggressively caressing his body. He was breathing heavily through his mouth; his eyes were wide open, seemingly enjoying every touch to the utmost as if he had never been touched before. They pulled the stripper off of Karik. 

"I wish I didn't have to do this," Bill said to Karik as he handcuffed him.  Karik just looked straight ahead, showing no emotion.

"Why didn't he leave with me when he had the chance?" Damon asked Elvis.  "I'm sure we could have gotten him out of here. That whole scene was just weird."

"Why are you trying so hard to help him?" Elvis asked.  "You know who those guys are.  You could have gotten yourself into all kinds of trouble."

"Except that man did save my life earlier today," Damon responded with sincerity that Elvis rarely saw from him.  "I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for him. I'd either be dead or sitting near death in a hospital."

Elvis gave Damon an apologetic look.  "Sorry man.  You know I did all I could?"

"Of course you did."