This story is part of an ongoing series.
The chronological order of my stories is listed in WifeWatchman's biography.
Feedback and
constructive
criticism is very much appreciated, and I encourage feedback for ideas.
This story contains graphic scenes, language and actions that might be extremely offensive to some people. These scenes, words and actions are used only for the literary purposes of this story. The author does not condone murder, racial language, violence, rape or violence against women, and any depictions of any of these in this story should not be construed as acceptance of the above.
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Part 8 - Dinner and Drinks
"I saw her heading up to the table
Well, a tall walking big black cat.
When Charlie said I hope that you're able boy
'Cause I'm telling you she knows where it's at..."
--- The Hollies, 'Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress.
5:00pm, Monday, June 17th. Laura was working on her computer in her temp office. Margaret Mason was sitting on the other side of the table.
"I see where Mai Lin was the liaison with Audial Security Solutions." said Laura. "But I'm having trouble getting her emails to and from David Lang and his team. By the way, what is 'Top Confidential'?"
"Oh," said Margaret, "that's an internal classification. We use 'Most Confidential' and 'Top Confidential' to avoid confusion with Government classifications like 'Secret' and 'Top Secret'. As to why you can't get the data, it's probably because the FBI came in and secured the emails. Probably had our email techs take everything offline while their
security review
of the emails is ongoing."
"That's probably the case." Laura said. "So that means there's no point in looking any further at it. I'll have to notify my superiors at Homeland Security, of course, but they'll probably tell me to leave it in the FBI's hands, since the FBI is well-known to be the
experts
on emails and email servers." It is possible that Laura's voice was dripping with sarcasm on that, but Margaret didn't seem to notice.
"Okay, then," said Margaret, "I need to get a couple of things done before I go. If you need anything, just ask me first thing in the morning."
"Sure." said Laura. "I'm about to shut it down, also. You have a good evening."
"You, too." said Margaret as she got up. She then said, almost whispering: "Have a good evening with David. You're lucky; all the women here are bonkers over that guy." Laura just smiled brightly, the smile of anticipating a great evening with the hot young man.
After Margaret left, Laura called out "Donna!" When the mousey woman came to the door, Laura said "Come in, have a seat." Donna nodded and sat down. Laura put her finger over her lips as a reminder to be cautious of what was said out loud, then asked "So what did you find?"
"All the contracts with Audial are standard Government contracts." Donna said. "I got all the information you requested, except for the projects concerning David Lang's team. Those are listed as 'Top Confidential', whatever that is, and I couldn't access them."
"Did you ask Margaret or someone to help you get the information?" Laura asked, with just a touch of acidity in her voice.
"No." said Donna. "I just went on to the next project, and made a note to tell you about it, which I just did."
"If you'd told me a bit earlier in the day," Laura said, letting her voice get a little bit louder, "I might could've done something about it. Now we'll have to wait until tomorrow."
"Do you need me for anything else?" Donna asked, almost peremptorily. "Some of the people I've been working with asked me to go out for a drink with them."
At first Laura was a bit stunned at Donna's attitude, but then she had an idea. She said "Be here tomorrow no later than 8:00am." as she wrote something on a slip of paper. She handed the paper to Donna, which read '
See what you can get out of them about Mai Ling and any contacts she may have had.
' Donna nodded, and Laura said levelly "You can go."
Donna was gone as quickly as she could get her things and go. Laura decided to check on an app embedded in her computer. It showed that it was very likely what she was typing on her laptop had been 'mirrored', which meant someone had set up a monitor to show everything that was on her screen and that she'd typed. The supposedly 'secure' line also had a lot more data packets going through than was normal, standard, or expected. She clearly was being spied upon...
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Laura came into the Palm Club wearing a strappy, clingy black dress that showed off her curves and her large breasts to perfection, sheer black stockings on her magnificent legs, and despite her height she wore high-heel black pumps. It was fortunate for David that he was very tall as he walked in behind her. He was wearing a suit and collared, button-down shirt, but no tie.
Many eyes watched the hot couple as they were shown to a booth near the back end of the restaurant. In past times, it was etiquette and decorum that the lady sat facing the crowd, so that she could see and be seen, while the man took the other place with his back to the rest of the place. But Laura noticed that David had maneuvered in a way to virtually force Laura to sit with her back to most of restaurant while he faced it. Perhaps unwittingly, he'd 'won' that little spycraft 'battle', she thought to herself.
"You..." said David as his eyes devoured Laura, "look absolutely beautiful tonight."
"Why, thank you, kind sir." said Laura with a flirtatious smile. "And you look very handsome, yourself."
They made their drink orders, then David asked Laura about her work with the Government. Laura gave her carefully crafted backstop story, then she asked him about his career.
"You seem like the type of man that would be a perfect military Officer." she said. "Did you ever consider that?"
David said "I thought about it. But I'd always thought I'd be a pro football or baseball player. I overestimated myself there, but by the time I washed out of Baseball, it was getting to be too late to join the military. So I went back to school. But give me credit for studying a field that might help injured soldiers and athletes recover more quickly and more fully."
"Oh, I do." said Laura. "And I like it that you're thinking of helping others as part of your work. Is that why you came to work for MegaTech Industries?"
David said "Well... I guess I should say it originally was. But now I realized I was given a huge bill of goods when I was being recruited by MegaTech. Don't get me wrong: I think Kara Zorn does want to apply MegaTech's achievements to good things. But not Elliot Sanders. That guy is in it for himself and only himself, make no mistake about it."
Laura nodded. "So they recruited you?" she asked.
David nodded. "Yes. They promised me a lot of money and a chance to work on the things I wanted. The money
is
good, but they've really steered me into the brain symbiosis things."
"What's that about?" Laura asked. Unfortunately, she was interrupted by the waitress, who had come to take their food orders. David impressed her by ordering for both of them, and he got 'steak' right for Laura, a definite plus.
After the waitress had gone, David said "Well, I can't say too much about the projects. They involve implants that are supposed to work with the brain's functions. The goal is to help cure mental diseases, arrest and eradicate things like Alzheimer's, and have the side effect of understanding the brain itself a lot better than we do."
Laura nodded, and David continued: "The problem is Elliot Sanders. Although Dr. Wages is supportive of me and my work, he's always been a little bit pushy about it, wanting to know what the capabilities fully are, and what applications it could be used for. Wages practically worships Elliot Sanders, the way Margaret Mason worships Kara Zorn, and I'm sure he's keeping Sanders informed about my work."
"Can you blame him?" asked Laura, expertly creating the 'antagonistic' approach to keep David talking. "I mean, it could be a huge boon for the company, couldn't it?"
"Absolutely." said David. "My worry is what Sanders intends the end use to be. You'll probably think I'm some sort of nutjob conspiracy theorist like that Dr. Mickelson at the University, and you might get up and walk out of here on me... but I increasingly believe Elliot Sanders wants to use my research and the research of others to find ways to
control
the human brain."
"Well," Laura said, looking around, "that's a thought. By the way, who is this 'Dr. Mickelson' ov vich yoo speek?"
David smiled. "He's a Professor of Biology at the University in the northwest corner of the State. In my early days I consulted with him on radiation effects on the brain, but it soon became apparent that he's a quack, with his talk about 'Sigma Radiation' and stuff. I'm not sure why they haven't sacked him yet."
"I haven't heard of him." said Laura, wondering if this was a trap. Eager to steer the conversation away from anything to do with the University, she said "So Elliot Sanders wants to apply your research to mind control? That's not as farfetched nor crazy as it sounds."
"Nice of you to say that." said David with a smile. "Anyway, I can believe Kara Zorn when she says the 'Alicia' device is wonderful for home convenience and safety, and she may really believe that's what it's for. But Elliot Sanders has all but admitted that it and any home device connected to the Cloud can be used to spy on people. Everything he does is in connection with the Government, everything he does seems to be with the intent of control over others."