Other than Caleb spitting soup everywhere, Ben thought this visit to his brother's was going much better than usual. It helped that when Caleb returned in a new shirt, he seemed to have lost some of his cocky attitude, like he had been given some troubling news or something. Ben thought about asking if something was actually wrong, but when he remembered how good hs older brother had it, he decided against it.
Riley rejoined them shortly after her trip to the bathroom, and Ben had the satisfaction of again seeing his brother's jealous gaze at his hot wife. It was a sense of pride for Ben, knowing that his hot wife was the one thing Caleb could never have. There were some things money and power just could not buy.
Small talk flowed as three courses were served, and Ben proceeded to stuff his face. He noticed that Caleb wasn't much of a conversationalist today. Rare for him. He usually bragged about his job or some new expensive hobby he'd picked up. Mindy and Riley, however, prattled on about a variety of topics. Ben couldn't remember when Riley had been such an apt conversationalist. She was holding her own against Caleb's refined wife.
Most shocking of all though, was how Caleb didn't make any more jabs at Ben and Riley's lack of financial security. He didn't even offer Ben any money before they left. He did give Riley a long, lingering look though. It was long enough to where Ben almost made a smart remark, but then the moment passed. Ben drove back to their small town very full and very happy. All he wanted now was to crash on the couch with Riley for the rest of that Saturday, and fall asleep with her in his arms.
He almost got his wish. Mid afternoon, as he was drifting off while watching a reality tv cooking show, Riley said, "I'm just gonna go check in at work, babe. I'll be back in an hour. Two tops."
"Mm hm," Ben protested dreamily, and tried to hold onto her as she extracted herself from his arms.
"I love you too, honey," she said with a melodic laugh, and kissed him on the forehead.
He let her go, and was quietly snoring in seconds.
A short while later at Del Corp, Doris met with Marcus in his office.
"How did we miss Caleb Harper?" she asked, looking horrified at the new information she'd discovered regarding Ben's brother. "You're supposed to be more thorough than that!"
"He's not a politician or law enforcement," Marcus said defensively. "And he's two towns away from Ben and Riley!"
"It's a little more than a town, Marcus!" she sniped back. "It's a suburb of the state capital, which is where Caleb works. Not as an elected official, but he might be soon, because he's one of the state's best prosecutors! Seems pretty tied to law enforcement to me!"
"But...he's a client!" Marcus argued.
"And we've injected his sister-in-law with brainwashing nanites that allow me to upload into her body! Kind of a conflict of interest, don't you...oh fudge! Not now!" Doris exclaimed as she grabbed her chest. She hobbled to Marcus's chair and sat down. She was wheezing, and tried to catch her breath.
"Do I need to take you to the doctor on duty?" Marcus asked out of obligation. He found it impossible to feel any real sympathy towards the old bat.
"It's Saturday, so no!" she rasped. "It'll be Jenkins. He's not worth a damn. Don't know why he hasn't been fired yet."
"Well just calm down and try not to die in my chair."
A minute of silence passed between them while Doris's breathing slowly returned to normal. Finally, Marcus piped up. "I've invested too much in Riley to cut her loose."
"Cause you've been thinking with your pecker," Doris quipped. She managed a deep breath. She wouldn't be dying tonight it seemed. She looked up into Marcus's eyes and smirked. "Luckily for us both, Caleb has a real thing for his brother's wife."
Marcus thought any straight man with vision would, but still he asked, "How do you know?"
"Because he told me," Doris retorted. "If used correctly, her body could be very persuasive to Ben's brother. Hell, I could probably talk him into doing all sorts of illegal acts for us if I promised to wrap her luscious lips around his cock after. But let's just make doubly sure you didn't miss anything else. We cannot afford to have anything else come back to bite us before we present her to the board."
Marcus was silent as she got shakily to her feet and headed out the door. She took an hour to get some food, and then got herself back in her pod before Ben woke up.
Back in Riley's body, Doris slipped herself back into Ben's arms on the couch, which roused him enough that they made their way to bed where they both fell asleep. Doris might have taken Riley back to the computer for more late night brainwashing, but that could wait till Monday.
As much as Doris enjoyed being in a young woman's body, she needed an actual break from it. A long one. She would have 8 hours on Monday where she could take care of her physical body while Ben was back at his factory job. That would also be 8 hours of constant staring at a computer screen where Riley's free will was slowly chipped away by the subliminal messages forced into her subconscious. Those messages would be reinforced by the nanites swarming in her bloodstream. Hopefully in a couple of days time, it would be enough to where she wouldn't even think about disobeying an order from Del Corp, even if it meant knowingly and willfully cheating on her husband. That's what Marcus and Doris were hoping for anyway. But love was something that could strengthen a person's resolve, which was the whole reason Del Corp didn't hire Remote Workers who were in serious relationships.
Wednesday would be the day they found out whether their marathon programming had been successful or not. Riley would have undergone more conditioning in a short period of time than anyone on record. This much brainwashing usually wasn't needed because of the upload process by the professional sex workers. But that's not what Victor Spanelli would be paying for. He wanted the real deal, and Marcus and Doris would give it to him. A real married woman who would cheat on her husband. The two conspirators could then take their data to the board, prove that they'd overcome the relationship obstacle, and it would hopefully merit a huge reward, perhaps their own seats on the board.
The alarm Monday morning went off and pulled Doris out of the wonderful dream she'd been having. She'd dreamt that Riley's body was hers. Not temporarily, but permanently. That she never had to go back to her decrepit, failing body, but could just keep enjoying the perks of being young and beautiful again.
For one shining moment as her eyes fluttered open and she lay there staring up at the ceiling in Riley's body, she thought maybe the dream had been real. But then Ben pulled her next to him and said, "How about one of your famous morning blowjobs before I go to work?"
Reality quickly set in. Doris wanted to push him off. She was not in the mood. A very rare thing for her when she was uploaded, but she was sick of playing the doting horny wife for this moron for so long. She hoped the brainwashing was successful so she didn't have to babysit Riley's body so much in the future.
Doris gave an unseen eye roll, then flipped over to face her husband.
"Of course, baby," Riley cooed. "I love draining your balls before you go to work!"
