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."