The Bro Code 7

Copyright © 2024 Literary Ranger

Sometimes you have to step up for a friend when they are not around to serve Justice, and sometimes others have to step up for you as well.

I was not in the best of moods as I'm not a sales guy, but Chet was sick and couldn't make it to the regional sales conference in Denver, so I was told to go. Not even sure why I was tasked, as I am the Director of Training and Safety for our company. We sold mine safety and exploration equipment, and the Colorado School of Mines was in Golden, which was now a suburb of Denver. The School of Mines was hosting the conference. Mike, Brian, and Stacy, from sales, were with me and knew how to set up our booth and sell stuff. I guess I was just the adult supervision, whatever.

I headed down to the bar to try to improve my mood, and didn't because one of the first people I saw was my buddy Steve's wife, Janice, who was being too chummy with some guy. I whipped out my phone and took a few pics of them embracing and kissing. I hoped this was all innocent, but I was thinking it wasn't because I knew Janice pretty well, and she had never greeted me like that. The kissing was way out of line for a wife.

I followed them at a safe distance as they headed in the opposite direction from the bar to the hotel's dance club.

I pulled Steve up on my Contacts list on my phone and called him.

"Hey, Marc, what's up? Aren't you out in Denver or something?" He answered.

"Yeah, I am. Hey, how are things going between you and Janice?" I asked my leading question.

"Why are you asking me that?" He countered.

"Well, I may have some information for you, depending on how honest you are with yourself and with me," I argued.

"Uh, well, shit, man. Things haven't been that great lately. We've been arguing a lot, and we haven't been having sex that much either lately," Steve admitted.

"How long has this been going on, bro'?" I asked. I wanted him to think about this more before I dropped the bomb.

"Ah, shit, about four months. I guess," he replied.

"Any big changes for her at work? Did she get promoted into a new position at work, or did someone new show up that she couldn't shut up about?" I asked. I was trying to slow walk him into this concept that Janice was cheating on him.

"No, not that I can think of. She has been working later, that's all," he said after thinking about it.

"Okay, I'm going to send you a few pictures that are going to piss you off, and hopefully they will put everything together for you. I will stay on the line, and I want know what you want me to do about it, alright?" I offered. I sent the photos I had taken moments ago.

Steve and I grew up down the street from each other. Both our parents worked, so we were pretty much on our own. We somehow managed to stay out of any serious trouble, got decent enough grades to get into college, were smart enough to go to college, and smart enough to graduate. Our parents weren't bad, they were just busy. We had been there for each other. Steve had been there for me during some rough times, like when my heart was broken by my college girlfriend, whom I thought I was going to marry, and later when my parents died. There was nothing I wouldn't do for Steve.

Janice and the asshole were out on the dancefloor, dry-humping each other, completely ignoring the tempo of the music.

"Fuck, that's Trace Lambert, her fucking boss," Steve said in anger after receiving my pictures.

"What do you want me to do, bro'?" I asked.

"Just keep an eye on them. Shit...Oh, wait, this is fucking perfect. Her fucking Dad made me sign a fucking prenup because that arrogant prick was so sure I was going to screw up this marriage. Oh, this is fucking great! Oh, Marc, this is fucking hilarious! That pompous ass is going to eat his fucking words when this fucking divorce happens. His precious little slut daughter is going to be exposed as a fucking whore! Fucking glorious!" Steve shouted into the phone, laughing. "You know she actually works for her Dad. And that dickhead actually brought Trace Lambert to the company a few months ago to work on this new project. Fucking awesome! This shit is going to blow up in that cock bag's face!"

"I'll keep an eye on them," I offered.

"Man, I wish there was a way to get proof of them cheating. Like pictures and shit," Steve commented.

"Hey, Steve, we have a bunch of our equipment out here with us. It's not designed to spy on people, but maybe we can use it to get what you need?" I speculated.

"Yeah, dude, see what you can do. Please don't send me any more pics or anything. I'm already too pissed. I think I'm going to call my cousin so I don't do anything stupid and get drunk," Steve said.

"Okay, I'll see what I can do," I promised.

"Oh, shit, their company. Man, this is going to destroy them." Steve exclaimed. "Her Dad is a moral asshole. You've met him. Anyway, they have all these morality clauses in their employee handbook. Fuck, man, this is going to roast their company. Holy shit!"

"Hey, you sound like you're going to be alright," I commented.

"Yeah, Marc, get what you can. I'll text you an email address you can send it to." Steve instructed. "Wow, I'm going to be divorced and rich once their company settles, and I get to shove it all up that pompous bastard's ass. The only thing that would make all this perfect would be kicking Lambert's ass, but that is going to have to wait," he chuckled.

"Wow, Steve, glad you're able to put everything in perspective," I replied.

"Yeah, thanks for looking out for me. I know it probably wasn't easy to make this call," he said in gratitude.

"Hey, I was so angry when I saw how they were behaving, I had no other option," I explained.

"Well, thanks. Call if you need anything else," Steve said.

"I will," I replied, ending the call.

I watched Janice and her boss making out on the dance floor. I took a few more pictures that were more incriminating than the ones I took earlier.

I called the sales team.

"Mike, I hope you guys aren't too drunk yet. You want to do something righteous?" I asked.

"Yeah, of course," he answered after a brief pause. I told them where I was and intercepted them in the lobby, keeping an eye on Janice and the asshole.

"Do we have any cameras or listening devices we can use to spy on people?" I asked the assembled trio.

"We have the orthoscopes for inspecting tubing and fittings. We could easily slip that under the door," Stacy stated. Brian and Mike nodded in agreement. I thought they had more to drink than they were willing to admit.

"We can actually use the ultrasound to look through walls," Brian said way too loudly. passers-by turned to look at us. The ultrasound was actually used for prospecting through rock, but it was a noise detector and could be used as a listening device. We just had to figure out where to listen.

"What's going on?" Stacy finally asked. She seemed to be the most sober of the three.

I explained that I caught my buddy's wife cheating on him, and we needed to gather evidence.

"That bitch!" Stacy exclaimed.

"Bitch," Brian followed.

Mike shrugged.

"What's the matter, Mike? I thought you wanted to do something righteous?" I asked.

"Yeah, but this is other people's business," he explained.

"What if you could have fucked over Heather, Mike? What if someone had had some shit on her you could have embarrassed her with?" Stacy asked with a bit of malice in her voice.

Mike's expression changed from apathy to anger and finally to determination when Stacy reminded him of his own nasty separation and divorce a few years ago.

"Yeah, okay. Let's give your friend something he can fuck this bitch over with," he finally agreed.

"Alright, there they are over there," I discreetly pointed them out to the group. "We will keep an eye on them until they leave. I need to hang back because she knows what I look like. Go get the equipment, and we will follow them to their hotel. I don't think they are staying here. We should be able to get what we need through the door, right?" I asked. I had no idea. I was in charge of training on the safety equipment, and none of this stuff was safety equipment.

"I don't know. The ultrasound is supposed to turn sound waves into pictures. How is it going to record sound?" Brian asked.

"Brian, a regular ultrasound will give you a baby's heartbeat. Ours can do the same. We just don't have it hooked up to do it. I should be able to record an MP3 and send it to your phone." Stacy explained. "Actually, it already does record sound because it has the default mode to listen for water when you are scanning rocks," she remembered. This was a safety feature on the device, so you didn't dig your mine into an underground river and flood your mine.

"Oh, yeah," Mike remembered.

Great, me working with the three drunk detectives. This should be fun. I thought sarcastically.

Mike and Brian headed off to get the equipment.

Stacy found us a place at the bar out of sight of the dance floor but with a fair view of the groping couple.

"So, what about you, Marc?" Stacy asked.

"What do you mean, Stacy?" I replied.

"I never see you with anyone at any of our company parties or events. You dating anyone or married or what?" She elaborated on her question.

"Oh, I'm single. Got burnt pretty bad a few years ago and don't date much," I explained.

"Oh, you poor thing," she said, rubbing my arm. "What happened? If you don't mind me asking?"

I barely knew Stacy, but I am not an idiot. We had only interacted a bit at work, and then the last two days at the conference. I knew I had a reputation at the office for being professional and fun to be around, but I didn't know if that was enough for her to make a decision about pursuing a relationship. But her question was not one you asked someone you were not interested in getting to know a lot better.

"Well, I met someone in college. We got engaged, and then she broke off the engagement with no reason and moved back to her hometown." I explained.

"Sounds like she got cold feet," Stacy offered as a reason.

"Maybe, but you think she would have the courtesy of letting me know," I said, shaking my head and looking sad.

"Oh, you poor thing," Stacy said, rubbing my shoulder to comfort me.

"Yeah, good thing none of that ever happened," I laughed.

Stacy stared at me in shock for a moment as her emotions adjusted to my joke. I think the alcohol was slowing her reaction time, too.

"You dog!" She said, smacking the shoulder she had been rubbing.

"And that is why I am always honest. I can lie like the most expensive Persian Rug," I chuckled.

"Oh, my God. You're awful. What really happened?" She asked, chuckling.

"You know, the classic. Came home early to surprise her, and she was screwing our roommate," I said, smiling.

"Did you kick the guy's ass?" She asked.

"No, I didn't kick her ass," I corrected.

"Oh," she replied and then smirked. "Why didn't you join them?" Was her next question.

"I may have if we had discussed it prior, but I just saw it as cheating and walked away," I replied.

"What did she do?" Stacy asked.

"Oh, hey, they're moving," I interrupted as Janice and Trace left the dance floor and headed out of the lounge.

They walked right past Mike and Brian as they were walking in with the equipment.

Janice looked at the equipment they were carrying with a questioning look on her face. It had our company logo on it, and if she recognized it, she would suspect that I might be in town.

Mike and Brian were also walking straight towards Stacy and me. I ducked back around the end of the bar, so I couldn't be seen.

Janice shook her head then she and asshole walked out the front door of the hotel.

I directed Mike and Stacy to follow them.

I took the ultrasound case and headed for the front door with Brian.

Janice and asshole crossed the main road and made their way to the hotel across the street, with Mike and Stacy following casually behind.

Once inside the hotel, Brian and I hustled across the street into the hotel behind them.

I didn't see Stacy and Mike in the lobby and assumed they followed Janice and asshole up in the elevator, so I headed to the front desk.

"Welcome to the Emirates Hotel. How may I help you?" A cheerful young woman behind the counter asked.

"Hi, Miranda. I have some friends staying here and am hoping to leave them a message, Janice Merrit and Trace Lambert. Try Janice's room first." I asked the receptionist. I was hoping that she made the call before they entered the rooms.

Miranda looked up the room numbers and wrote them down on her notepad. 628 and 630. She dialed both rooms, and no one answered.

"I'm sorry, but no one is answering, sir," she said.

"That's alright. They may still be at dinner. I'll try to catch up with them there. Thank you, Miranda. I'm curious, are those adjoining rooms?" I asked, pointing at the notepad.

"Uh, yes, they are, sir," she answered.

"Yeah, I don't think her husband or the company owner will be too happy to hear about that," I commented.

"Oh, my," Miranda stated, looking down at the notepad. She was in her early 20's and probably hadn't had to deal with too many of the unpleasantries that life presented.

Brian and I picked up the equipment cases and headed to the elevators.

Mike and Stacy were standing by the elevators on the 6th floor.

"They're down this way, but we don't know which rooms they're in," Stacy said.

"628 and 630," I commented.

"How did you figure that out?" Mike asked.

"Asked the front desk to call their rooms," I answered.

"So, how are we going to do this?" Stacy asked.

"Well, we don't want this to look weird. So, we should head down with the orthoscope and see which room they are in. Then, take the ultrasound down and listen in. That thing isn't exactly small, so it will be hard to be inconspicuous. Since I don't know how any of this works, I was going to stand here and keep watch. Too bad we couldn't steal a cleaning cart to hide this stuff in," I said.

"I'll go run the orthoscope and see what I can see. You two set up the ultrasound," Stacy instructed Mike and Brian.

"I'll go with you," I offered.

The elevator waiting area had a table and two chairs. Stacy set the orthoscope hard case on the table and opened it. The device was encased in foam, and she pulled it out and extended the fiber optic wand. She turned it on, and in a second, the screen showed a picture of the image captured from the end of the wand.

I followed Stacy down the hallway to room 628, which I had to point out to her as she seemed to have forgotten the room numbers. She stuck the wand under the door, and the image on the screen was dark. Stacy looked at me, and I shook my head. I then pointed at room 630.

At the door of room 630, Stacy stuck the wand under the door, and we immediately saw a naked Trace fucking who I assume was Janice from behind. We couldn't see who the woman was as she was bent over the bed, and we were filming from a low angle. I reached over and pressed the 'Record' button on the orthoscope. Stacy smiled and nodded.

The image was low resolution, black and white, and kind of boring.

"This is terrible porn," Stacy said.

I had to choke back a laugh.

"Don't say stuff like that. We should try to be quiet," I admonished her. "That was damn funny though," I whispered.

"Here," Mike said, handing me the ultrasound probe. "Just set that against the door, and I'll dial it in." He instructed me.

I set the probe against the door and stood back.

"You want anything to drink?" I asked.

"Yeah, a Coke would be nice," Mike said.

"Yeah, me too," Stacy said over her shoulder.

I walked back to the elevators and got Cokes for everyone out of the vending machine there.

Brian and Mike took a turn watching and now listening to the bad amateur porn. Stacy joined me by the elevators.

"We got audio of them calling each other by name and images of her face, so we have positive ID," Stacy told me.

"Well, that's good. As we were watching the first images, I was thinking how none of what we are doing is legal, as we are not licensed to do this, and we are violating their privacy," I commented.

"Yeah, true, but it has been a fun evening," Stacy joked.

"Yes, it has," I laughed, toasting her with my soda can.

"So, our conversation got interrupted earlier. After you caught her and walked away, did you talk to her?" Stacy asked.

"Yeah, long enough to figure out that their relationship had been going on longer than ours had, and she was just a liar. I never looked back," I explained.

"God, that had to be rough," she commented.

"Yes and no. Our whole relationship was a lie, and therefore, it was easy to walk away from because it was all a lie. Does that make sense to you?" I reasoned.

"Yeah, I understand. And you just haven't met anyone since then?" She asked.

"No, I am pretty picky. I do date, but I have pretty high standards. I am not going to settle for someone whom I have to make a bunch of compromises for because those can potentially turn into resentments," I stated.

Stacy was quiet for a while as she thought about what I had said.

I watched the side of her face. She was pretty cute. Her dark hair frames her pale face and set off her blue eyes. Physically, she was everything I would want in a woman. She turned to look at me, and I held her stare.

"You don't seem to be damaged by your experience but gained strength from it," she commented.

"Thanks, I think once I got some perspective on where I stood with her, all I could do was learn from it. It also taught me to be more cautious in relationships, too," I said.

"Would you consider dating someone from work?" Stacy asked.

"I.." I start to answer.

"Hey, they're done, and he's headed for ice," Brian said as he walked up hurriedly. Ultrasound bundled in his arms.

"Wow, that was fast. How pathetic," I commented, looking at my watch.

"Yeah, she said she's taking a shower," Mike added, putting the orthoscope back in its case as he laughed at my comment.

Everyone was chuckling at how quickly their sexual interlude had lasted.

I sent a text to Steve

-Would me kicking Lambert's ass work?-

I got an answer almost immediately.

-Oh hell yeah man!- ending with a smiley face emoji and a thumbs-up

I laughed.

I looked at my three accomplices. None of us was wearing any company shirts or hats. I took the two cases and put them behind the chairs.

"What are you doing?" Stacy asked.

"I'm gonna kick this guy's ass," I stated.

"What?" She exclaimed.

"He fucked my buddy's wife. He's getting his ass beat," I explained.

"What about her?" Stacy asked.

"I'm not hitting a woman," I exclaimed. Stacy started laughing.

"I don't expect you to, but why do women get away with shit like this? They deserve equal retribution, don't they?" She asked.

"I love where your head is at," I said, smiling. This woman continued to fascinate me.

"You know, in some traditions, women who fraternized with the enemy got their heads shaved," Stacy announced with a smile.

"How are we going to do that?" I asked.

Stacy pulled a stun gun out of her purse, pulled the trigger, and the arc cracked twice.

We heard a door open down the hall.

"So, I drop it into four-wheel drive, and we still aren't going anywhere," I said a little loudly. Stacy, Mike, and Brian looked at me, confused for a second. I reached over and pressed the elevator call button.

"Why aren't you moving?" Stacy asked, realizing I was telling a story to make it look like we were just waiting on the elevator.

"Because that whole area is covered in this muck that was made up of dead leaves. I can't get any traction. Here I am with this big bad 4x4 and..." I said.

Lambert rounded the corner, ice bucket in hand.