One of the strange things about having been a professional thug is the habits that you ingrain, which pretty much stay with you for the rest of your life. For example, when you're part of a tactical protection team, you do what they call a three-unit rotation. One of your team is leading the way, one is with the principal, and the last person is lagging about ten feet behind. All members of the unit are relaxed but watching for movements, analyzing the flow of the foot traffic. Looking for someone in a hurry crossing vectors, someone trying too hard not to look at your principal and his oh-so-obvious guard. When you go through a door, the first person opens it and checks the scene, and the other two units accelerates, the client man moving through the door and into the lead position while the rear man takes his place at the client's side. The former lead man, who held the door, is now the rear guard.
Watching people, watching traffic, identifying exits when you enter a room, identifying anyone who might potentially be a threat - someone who suddenly looks away, for example - becomes a lifetime habit.
Every Wednesday I took advantage of my position to call an IT staff meeting - at the Chili's restaurant three blocks away, within range of our floor radios in case something comes up. Its not mandatory, and everything said is off the record, which is why we rarely invite outsiders; they might be the person we roast in today's casual conversation.
We're a snide bunch, the IT/NetOps guys... we had our usual table of eight, which the restaurant knew to have set for us. Wednesdays at 1pm. Granted, it went against the former lifetime to have a set place and time, but you make some allowance for the fact that you no longer need to carry a Glock 21 in a paddle-holster above your butt, nor wear Class III body armor.
But the other thing - the situational awareness - stays with you. You learn to take the "Boy are YOU paranoid" comments in stride, because the fact of the matter is that those habits only have to save your ass once in a lifetime - and once they do, everything else is gravy.
And thats how I saw you.
I took my usual seat - perpendicular to the windows, and facing the front door - pretending not to have noticed you. I'm successful to the degree that nobody can see my developing erection. Thank Ghod for opaque tables. I wonder how long you've been sitting there, and how you managed to talk the staff into seating you in that little alcove, where pretty much only I can see you. Did you bribe the manager? Did you arrive before the lunch crowd, and specifically request that table?
You obviously dressed for a client meeting today - you're wearing an exquisite, attractive version of the proverbial "little black dress", more appropriate to a dinner party than a client meeting. I'd found out that you were out of the office and working from home today - so either you had a client meeting for which you somewhat over-dressed, or you planned it with deliberation. For me.
The dress hugs your curvy shape, and reveals things - but only to the dedicated observer. Your lips glisten red with newly applied lipstick. Your fingernails are painted the same red, and look long enough to not only look sexy, but to potentially inflict a little pain.
Which I like.