Adventures in the City

Adventures in the City - Part 3 - Inside Greystone

Away from London, toward the south coast and Brighton, the open green fields looked like parts of upstate New York around Cornell. We filled a sack with lunch on the way out of the terminal and set off to find a sheltered spot on the beach. We had a lot of company because of the sunny day, but a little extra walking led to a quiet place out of the wind with a fine view of the water and sailboats in the Channel.

Tony kindly gave us a leg to lie on and distributed goodies from the sack. We'd had plenty of wine last night so the refreshments were lemonade and root beer.

Chapter 5 - Dangers at Greystone

Tony asked, "Ms. Price, do you think we can pull off this study? We didn't realize the problem until you told us that Reggie is so cavalier with his students."

She lifted my hand and massaged my fingers, looking at them closely and kissing the knuckles. I was falling in love, or something, with this woman.

"Two days ago, I would have said no. Now, I'm not so sure. First, you have completely seduced me, so I have no alternative but to join your little game." Her hand rested mine on her breast, which was warm and curved.

"Second, except for one or two people, neither of them partners, there is not a lot of smarts about derivatives in the company. Geoff understated the worry of the Board. They see the derivatives manager, Alex Masterson, as a big mouth trader flying blind. This whole thing about substance and quant is really a subterfuge to get Alex to clean up his act or get fired."

I was lying there calmly, my hand motionless on her breast, but my stomach was suddenly doing flipflops. "Now it comes down," I said to myself, "we are supposed to get Mr. Bigmouth fired."

I made a worrying noise and Penny said, "Yes, a bit of a challenge there."

After a little silence, Tony said, "But we have work to do before the evidence about derivatives management is laid out, don't we?"

"Yes. And you have Reggie to the rescue if someone has to speak to the Board privately. His ego is plenty big enough not to want to turn grad students loose with a partnership board."

She squeezed my hand. "Yes, it's shitty. You do the work, do all the high quality analysis, and watch the Professor reel in the glory." She rolled over half on me and delivered a long open mouthed kiss.

"Does that make Cammie feel better?"

"Tony, she is a witch in disguise. The coven must have kidnapped her at Cambridge."

Penny closed her eyes and lay back in the warm sand. "You know what's special about being around the two of you? Whichever one I approach, I get love back. That's never happened to me before. I don't even know how to relate to it. At least, not yet."

I held her hand again and we absorbed the sun. I was almost asleep when Tony said, "Isn't it required when you visit Brighton that you take a long walk on the beach?"

We sat up and collected our mess. Tony said to Penny. "Thanks for lesson 1 in the Greystone derivatives playbook. Let's not talk work anymore, that was enough for one day."

We made our way down the beach into a rising wind. The fog was approaching, but we wove like drunken sailors, butting and shoving and stealing kisses. When the sand in our eyes got bad enough, we turned and scuttled back like crabs. Tony put his hands down on the gravely pebbles and practiced a sideways crab dance.

The station platform was full for the five o'clock train and we held hands tightly so as not to leave one of us on the platform as the crowd rushed into the cars. We didn't get to sit down, but it didn't matter. Penny and I were giddy with fresh air, and scary talk about work, and nice talk about loving. We leaned against Tony, liking his hard chest and comforting arms. Penny and I looked at each other, our eyes saying how nice it was to have a guy hold us.

Penny led the way from the tube to her favorite grocery, where we discovered deli curry that smelled divine and we built a small dinner around that. Tony found some Kingfisher beer so we could pretend to be eating an authentic Indian meal. Fresh flat bread and decaf beans and we were in business.

Penny had her own bottle of expensive single malt Scotch, and poured three fingers of it neat.

She kissed both of us and toasted her new best friends. I sat there, sipping the Scotch and feeling a strange sense of calm. Foolish thoughts of The Three Musketeers ran through my head. I smiled and laughed. They looked at me. I leaned in and kissed my friends, "The Three Musketeers. That's what we are, doing battle in the Halls of Finance!"

Penny said, "I have a pair of knee boots with a small scabbard for a stiletto." She laughed at us, "I've always been scared of buying the blade!"

Tony sat there with a big grin on his face. "I don't think Aramis knew his companions were tough women masquerading as men!"

Penny and I buried him. "Yes, our breasts are bound up and our swords sharp. Beware!"

Chapter 6 - Drowning in Love

We rode his hips to the bed. We were tossed in the middle on our backs. His hands were at his crotch. "I'll show you who has a sword!" He was up for some rough and we gave it to him, biting, hitting, kneeing, until we lay back, laughing and out of breath. Then we got pulled in for delicate kisses and little noises about keeping his women safe. Everyone was dozing off, so we skinned out of our jeans and tops and just crawled together under the blanket.

In the dark, his phone was chirping. He had a hand on two different breasts, saying, "Ladies, it's an early start on Monday. I'll do the coffee."

We were in the shower when he entered. Our hands had him hard in seconds. "No sex until homework is finished," he threatened.

Like dutiful maids, Penny and I obeyed and dressed. What is going on, I asked myself. The big handsome oaf gives us instructions and we just follow them?

I turned around and hugged him. "Am I being put in my place? I thought we were up to date on gender issues?"

Penny was on his back, "Are you listening to your girlfriend, Tony?" Her sharp teeth were giving his neck muscle a workout.

He turned around and pushed her against me. My arms went around, fingers clasping the high chested tits.

His eyes were very dark and his voice low and husky. "You two bring out the worst in me. But this thing we are into at Greystone is serious shit. So is getting good grades the first term at LSE. We have to bottle this playtime and go back to work."

I whispered in Penny's ear, "I'm afraid he is right, damn him." She wiggled and said in her Cambridge voice, "I'm sorry Miss Price, you just missed the first. Perhaps lack of application?"

She said, "That's the problem with the world, it doesn't always do what we want."

"But I don't know how I deserve two sexy lovers at the same time."

We were still kissing when we entered the kitchen. Tony looked at us and sipped his coffee. He smiled, "You two would make a great poster for a same sex marriage rally."

A small electric shock ran through me and I giggled, "You be careful, this one and I are liking each other more all the time."

Penny went over and kissed him. "You are such a terrible stud. Any lesbian would run the other way."

He sat at the counter and lay his head down. "How am I supposed to be thinking derivatives when two lesbians are after me?"

A couple of eggs and whole wheat toast later, he was feeling frisky, standing behind our chairs and running his thumb up and down our spines. We were still topless and tingling all over. He disappeared and came back with a hairbrush. The brush and his gentle hands working on us had me completely wet.

Chapter 7 - Pursuing the Study

He was silent, still brushing out two heads of hair. Then, in a measured voice, "Penny, this work with you could get nasty. For all three of us. There needs to be a cover story, and caution. If there is active fraud, whomever is involved will have reason to make us go away."

I actually shivered with the shock of his voice bringing us down to earth. A little voice said, "Playing with fire, are you?"

A strong arm around both of us squeezed, and he said, "But we don't scare easily, do we?"

Penny answered, "I think Geoff is clean, but you can never be sure. He is giving you open access to very sensitive information, and that gives us an advantage. You can be inquisitive in a way someone else could not. I will extend the cover story by letting it be known that we are having evening debriefs because of your class schedules."

The next two weeks were the hardest of my short career as a derivatives analyst. Long days at Greystone interspersed with frantic homework for Reggie's class and inquisitive questions.

Slowly, a picture emerged that was not quite right, but not tangibly wrong. Interviews were easily obtained, but answers were evasive at times. Our after dinner debriefs were full of doubts about our own competence.

Tony grew increasingly worried about a set up, and finally declared a weekend in the country to give us breathing room to pull results together. The study deadline was approaching. Penny suggested that an uncle would give us access to a family lodging in Poole, on the Dorset coast.

Chapter 8 - A Diversion to Dorset

Tony's voice was fierce, "We need precautions. Take only what goes into your school backpack. Take the Tube to Waterloo with the masses and a train departure to destination short of Poole."

We were rendezvousing with Penny at the station at four. He told me to relax as we walked to the Underground station, and stood close as we clung to a standup pole. I decided we were just two teenage lovers out on a lark, wrapped my arms around his neck, and applied a hot kiss.

In role play, I whispered, "Jason, you turn me on. Do you think my dad will let us marry?"

He hugged me tighter and whispered in a low voice, "Camille, I will marry on any day of your choosing."

OMG, he wasn't playing, he was telling me something. I sagged against his body and closed my eyes. Riding into danger with my lover, it was too much.

Penny was at the gate, waving us forward and finding seats quickly. It appeared we had a four seat compartment to ourselves. Depositing me with Penny, he left to find refreshments.

I shook in her arms and lectured myself to get a grip. She extracted the source of my distress with an oath.

Tony showed up with a fistful of small Scotch bottles and several cans of nuts and chips. Kissing my face, he inquired, "How is the patient?"

Penny snapped at him. "Sit down and behave. The poor woman is trying to recover from what she thinks is a proposal of marriage. Did you mean that?"

He nodded and I was about to climb into his lap when the Conductor showed up to check our tickets. Tony swiftly handed me a bottle with the top removed. "Take all of this. Medicinal Scotch. Good for teary celebrations."

We all slugged down the burning liquid and sat back. Penny and I hugged.

London fog gave way to two sunny days on the Channel Coast. The cottage in Poole belonging to Penny's uncle was actually a centuries old former pub that had been restored and carefully modernized with proper plumbing and wiring. There was a marvelous bedroom with a four poster and oceans of down.

Tony frowned, "Entirely too nice. Fit for a mistress and midnight encounters."

Penny and I frowned back, "We are not your mistresses. We are thinking work, not sex."

He let up. "For once, I agree with you. We need to suppress romance, however much it hurts."

It did hurt. I couldn't stop looking at him, feeling supremely foolish.

The ancient mahogany bar in the taproom, now the common living area, had been preserved, along with a sprinkling of stools. Investigation revealed an active tap of lager. Penny and I helped ourselves, trying to stare down Tony and failing. He took sips from our mugs and pinched boob tips.

"I can see there will be problems keeping the womenfolk focused."

"You have to let us down gently from the hard romps of recent days..."

He actually apologized and suggested a stroll to clear the heads. The devil had consulted an online history of the town and arrogantly teased us with snippets going back to the Romans, who had used Poole harbor as an invasion port in 43AD.

"Anthony, you would have made an excellent Legionnaire for Emperor Vespasian!" Penny and I head butted him and turned us back to get out of the chill sea breeze.

There was a modern kitchen and the women got busy with dinner, teasing each other that this was female slavery of the highest order.

Chapter 9 - The Study Report

Over the meal of roasted chicken with an excellent Austrian Reisling, Tony inquired, "Penny, we need to use next Monday's report to Geoff strategically. So far, we have a little badness here and there, but nothing that amounts to what the Board wants. Do you think we can say something that smokes out the fraudsters?"

Wow, I thought. Going actively looking for trouble. Penny reached for my hand to hold and responded, "Yes, I can find a few words that amount to a smoking gun. Geoff will have a fit, which is what we want, I guess?"

I added, "We have to move the agenda. Reggie will run out of patience with his students and the term will have ended."

The chicken was delicious, but being overshadowed by this serious conversation. For a few silent minutes, we worked on chicken and thought about asking for trouble.

I told Penny to sit and think while I dealt with the dishes and dessert. We moved to the four poster and wallowed in down, trying not to spill. The last twilight was going outside the French doors.

Tony and I let Penny do her thing, but managed a few kisses and pinches between the two of us. After a bit, she skinned out of her undies and burrowed into our nest.

"I have an idea, but need a seeing to first."

I don't know why, considering we were discussing serious stuff, but I began giggling.Tony removed her briefs and applied hard swats. I squeezed his hard thing and laid back to watch.

The required cock rose majestically in the last light. Penny leaned with a hot kiss for me as she aligned her parts and buried the cock.

"Better."

Tony reached to pinch nipples. "Is this rough sex, or loving sex?"

"I am so corrupted that I need this in me to provide safety!"

All I could say was, "I'll be damned!"

Tony was master of the situation. Slowly, very slowly, he turned them over and drove firmly all the way to the end of Penny's passage. And then again. About the third or fourth time, she collapsed in a long shuddering orgasm, accompanied by low moans. He pulled up the duvet and held her tight.

Too much, I said to myself. How could she melt into that and come back to talk bad guys?

Three or four minutes had gone by when she sat up, bright-eyed and said, "The report will say that in the course of our digging, we have uncovered serious irregularities, which are documented in a separate confidential report to the Board for possible action."

I said, out loud, "Shit, time for the body armor. That's an invitation for trouble with a capital T!"

Tony added, "But the main report has to have substance. We need to bear down and assemble something respectable from all of our homework."

I asked, "Will there actually be a separate confidential report?"

Penny said, "We need to get Geoff offsite for a no holds talk about that. Name names from the interviews. He might end up being a target too. In the meantime, I will send a note saying the report is delayed several days but is coming along fine."

I worried, "We have three or four names from the interviews, but not much hard evidence. Reggie may come down hard on us."

Tony gathered us to his chest for soft kisses. "This is delicious. Balancing on a knife edge. If we don't smoke out some culprits, we are toast. If we do smoke some out, we may be cut in little pieces and thrown in the Thames."

Penny giggled, "That's the end of us, fish food?"

I found my feisty broad voice, "See here, we decided we are smarter and faster than the bad guys. Now it is time to double down and go with the plan!"

Penny turned into me and mumbled, "Oh shit."

For the next two days, the surroundings were a mellow Fall weekend. Unfortunately, the homework smelled of danger and we concentrated on getting our words polished and tempered to strike exactly the right notes with Geoff and Reggie.

Sunday evening at Penny's, we were actually a bit relaxed. There was a game plan and we were ready to follow it. Penny had exchanged emails with Geoff, explaining that we would hand deliver a draft of our report on Monday but urgently needed an opportunity to discuss it with him offsite no later than Tuesday.

I asked, "When does Reggie see this?"

There was a silent pause and Tony answered, "At class Monday, we tell him he and Geoff are getting a draft on Tuesday. We don't want Geoff to squeal, so he must be warned not to tell."

On Tuesday, at three in the afternoon, we were squeezed into a booth in a dark corner of a Camden Town pub, a place definitely not favored by financial types. The waitress delivered an order of bitter and we sat back glancing at each other between swallows.

"I see you may get me fired shortly." Geoff wasn't smiling. Tony squeezed Penny's hand and let her respond.

"You told us yourself that this was a dirty game. The interviews underlined that, but not with anything good enough to take to the Board."

"Before we talk more, I must tell you that a clerk brought me a hand written note late yesterday from Andrew Covington, who reports to Masterson in the Derivatives section. It said that you needed to be discharged immediately, and the study terminated. He called the interview questions out of order and a threat to important trade secrets. There were uncomplimentary comments about you individually."

Tony pounced, "Ha! Nothing in the email system. No real attribution. Could be from Masterson himself."

Geoff returned a very thin smile. "Yes, written so it could be read several ways if I let it loose against them."

He continued, "I am not sure why I should allow your report and its approach to go forward, given your lack of experience, but I am going to proceed. This business threatens the whole firm, and if Greystone is blown up, I won't have a job anyway."

I asked, "Is there sufficient substance in the main body of the report? Reggie needs to see it soon but we wanted your reaction first."

"It's first rate. The section on general hazards of dealing in derivatives should be read by every Board member. It provides necessary context for whatever they decide to do going forward. Your numbers are impressive, especially the ones dealing with limiting exposure."

Tony looked very intense, "Speaking of going forward, Geoff, Reggie is going to be worried about your involvement. He will be on the hook for us, but probably does not want to hazard your position."

The thin smile was back, "You have detected by now that the mysterious Reggie Thornwhistle is more than a simple Economics Professor?"

Tony and I almost giggled, "Yes, the evidence has been accumulating."

"Well, and you absolutely do not know this, I served with him at the Security Service six years ago, a fact that appears on neither of our resumes. Assignments in counter-intelligence of industrial espionage. His connections in that direction are as solid as ever. And quiet. I'm not sure even 10 Downing knows about it.

Tony was on top of this in an instant, "Damn, he will want to press forward." He turned to Geoff, "But will any of it go public? If there is prosecution, it will have to be public..."

Geoff sat back, sipping his brew and squinting at the three of us. After a moment of silence, he said, "Inside the Service, if something has any tinge of national security to it, the Official Secrets Act can be invoked, and a myriad of corrective actions taken, public and otherwise."