Chapter 8 Naked and Undercover
Sarah's lap dancing experience with an aggressive customer on the private booth had taught her a lesson. Although normally a strong person who could handle most situations, she learned that she was vulnerable to alpha males, especially once when they touched her. Although she loved Jim, she realized that one the features that endeared him to her was his strength and toughness. She felt safe in his presence. He was her alpha male and she was his mate.
When Sarah returned to work at Bertha's Babes, she resolved to be more careful whenever she performed a lap dance in the club's private booths. She continued to display her body and tease her male customers, but when she wiggled her luscious ass over a customer's lap, she would carefully gauge the distanced to ensure that she had enough space to escape the clutches of a wandering hand or a slobbering mouth. The last thing she wanted was for the patrons of Bertha's strip club to think she was easy, that she was some common whore who could be bought for the right price. Of course, the knowledge that she could turn on her customer was a turn-on for her.
Sarah didn't know if that bastard with the agile tongue had told anyone else about what had happened in the booth. She did notice that several of the men asking for lap dances who assumed she was willing to 'put out'. However, they were severely disappointed because she rebuffed each and every attempt with a reminder about the house rules.
As much as she yearned for sex in those moments, she was unwilling to break the strip club's rules, not for sex, which was strictly forbidden in Bertha's Babes in any case, and not even for the money, the acceptance of which would have made her a true whore. So when the guy who had almost overcome her self-control came back for another private, she used her will power to control of the situation and stay out of his reach. After the second attempt failed, he was pissed and called her a frigid bitch.
Sarah still made good money as a stripper both on stage and in the booths. Others had tried to seduce and failed. The men wondered to themselves how such a sexy woman could possibly resist the temptation of having sex with the many fine examples of manhood who frequented Bertha's Babes. Rumours that she was easy were soon quashed. Some even decided she had to be a lesbian.
Nevertheless, Sarah's inner slut was disappointed that she could not live up to the slutty image of her that these men had built in their own minds. She worked in a sea of men and yet would not allow them to touch her except for a fleeting moment when they stuffed a bill in her stocking. Yet, when she danced and she stripped, she was always conscious of the void between her legs that needed filling. That was why, when she returned home, she insisted on having sex with Jim.
* * *
It was well into December when Bob Johnson called Sarah and Jim and advised them that the LLP had a special assignment for them. He asked them to come to an off-site location for a meeting at 10:00 on a Friday morning. The office was located on the second floor above Bertha's Babe's. Lucy was in school and Sarah had no classes or lectures.
When Sarah and Jim walked into Marc's office, only Bob and Marc were present.
"Good, we're all here who's going to be here," Bob said. As Mike Peters' designated successor and JH&P's future CEO, he had already become the unofficial head of the LLP. "The other LLP members have no role to play and so they opted not to attend," he explained."
Butterflies formed in the couple's stomachs. They had tended to see the LLP as an informal but exclusive company-based swap club for a very small circle of managers and select employees. Now it was suddenly turning into something quite different.
As soon as Sarah and Jim took their seats, Bob began to fill them in.
"Marc has learned from his sources that a rival legal firm, which we believe is connected to organized crime, is plotting to take over Bertha's Babes. Bertha has heard rumours along the same lines as well. Although she has other business interests, she views the gentlemen's club as her 'crown jewel'. Both Marc and Bertha believe the threat to Bertha's business is very real.
"However, we don't have anything we can take to the authorities. Suspicions and rumours are not enough to trigger a police investigation. So Bertha needs some extra-legal help from the LLP, specifically, your help." The last words were directed at the couple, but especially Sarah. "Marc has been carrying out his own investigations on Bertha's behalf. Marc, tell them what you've learned so far."
Marc nodded in agreement. "There is this lawyer, a guy named Benson, who has made some inquiries about renting the facilities of the exclusive private members-only club next door to Bertha's Babes. He must be quite wealthy if he can afford the fee. He is a member of good standing of that club. His membership allows him to rent the facilities for personal use, up to and including sex parties. He has rented the facility several times already.
"But that's not the issue. The issue is that his name is associated with rumours about an effort to oust Bertha from her business. Benson happens to be a regular customer at Bertha's Babes."
Marc then related how he began to follow Benson to a specific restaurant where, it turned out, he was a regular customer. Benson was a creature of habit. He always came at the same time and sat at the same table, sometimes alone, sometimes with others, specifically an alcove located near the back of the restaurant, which afforded him a fair degree of privacy from both prying ears and prying eyes. His habits were so predictable that the restaurateur always made sure the table was ready for him by the time he arrived. It helped that he was good tipper as well.
"I got a tip that some of Benson's associates were going to meet him for lunch. Knowing this pattern," Marc continued, "I arranged to arrive a few minutes early. When no one was looking, I planted a microphone under his usual table. To avoid suspicion, I deliberately took a table out of normal earshot from the alcove, ordered a drink and food just like any other customer, pretending to mind my own business.
"They arrived right on schedule. I turned on my earphone and began to listen in on their conversation. That's how I learned that rumours about a hostile takeover of Bertha's property were true. They didn't talk about their takeover plans, but I did learn they wanted to meet in a secure location to discuss its details.
"They fixed a date, place and time for their meeting. The place is Bertha's members-only private club because it has a sound reputation for discretion and protecting people's privacy. The plotters had a good laugh at Bertha's expense, knowing that they going to plot the takeover of her core business from right underneath her very nose."
"Couldn't Bertha just refuse to rent the private club?" Sarah asked.
"No," Marc replied, "any person who is a member of the private club can rent it as long as they follow the rules. She can't and won't refuse just based on a rumour."
"That makes sense, I suppose" Sarah conceded.
"Anyway," Marc continued, "Benson told his partners in crime that they could celebrate the conclusion of the business end of their meeting with a sex party. He promised to provide the entertainment. That made those other guys very happy."
Marc then told the couple that, as he had headed toward the washroom, he had deliberately stumbled next to their table. While apologizing for disturbing them, he had discreetly managed to take several pictures of them with a tiny camera hidden in his lapel. Stopping his narration, pull an envelope out of his desk which contained six photos. He passed around so that everyone could look at them.
When the photos were handed to Sarah, it only took Sarah a second to recognize that handsome black-haired main in the photo. "Well, I'll be damned!" Sarah exclaimed.
"You know these guys?" Marc asked.
"I know this guy," she said pointing her finger at a man with a greasy hairstyle that looked like it came out of a 1950s crime movie. "I did a lap dance for him twice. He offered me money for sex but I refused him."
"That's Benson!" Marc exclaimed. "He's their leader."
Jim leaned over to look at the picture as well. He glanced toward Sarah who looked embarrassed."
"An easy mark, I'd say." Jim said, causing his wife to blush.
The others noticed the interchange between Sarah and Jim but made no comment.
"So this guy is the target of the special assignment? You are asking us, well, really asking Sarah, to put her body on the line to bring down this greasy-looking piece of shit to help Bertha," he summarized.
"Yes," Bob and Marc answered simultaneously.
Marc resumed his explanation. "Benson is the organizer of the plot, but I'm pretty sure some higher-ups in his firm are involved too, but we don't know who they are," Marc continued.
"What else do you know about him?" Jim asked.
"That greaseball is known as a macho guy with very little respect for women and a mean streak," From the tone of his voice, Marc clearly didn't like him.