Foreplay: I decided to add this to the Changing Room series as it uses common characters and the video voyeur theme. I think it's also a good illustration of how powerful covert surveillance can be, with many people being viewed by CCTV up to 300 times a day in the UK. Big Brother and Terry are watching.
*****
"Hi, Terry," said Bill, "How's things."
I could tell from the noise in the background that Bill was on the payphone at the Rampaging Ferret, his local pub. "Good," I answered. Actually my pocket rocket was a little sore from overuse and misuse. Ever since I'd started work on the Grandbutts changing room project I'd either fucked or wanked my ram-rod into submission most every day.
"Listen," continued Bill, "A friend of mine needs some work doing that's right up your street."
"Like what?" I asked.
"Similar kind of thing you've been doing on that website. For a new gym he's just started up. I told him about your webcam work and he wants to have a chat; he's prepared to offer good money."
The conversation continued to a background of jukebox music, video gaming machines and the regular clink of empty beer glasses being collected at the popular pub. I arranged to meet up with Rob at the Ferret a few days later.
Rob came to the point within a few minutes of our first meeting. He'd had some guys dealing steroids and, he thought, hard drugs. All had been word of mouth but he believed what he'd been told. There was also some petty pilfering and unpaid gym sessions, simple things like towels, slimming products and protein shakes going missing. Rob wanted a security cam system installed that would link in with his website. In that way, he could covertly sneak a peek at whatever was going on, whether he was working in the gym, chilling at home or even on the go.
"So why don't you get the experts in to fix you up a CCTV system?"
"They'd want everything kosher, all the i's crossed and the t's dotted. It would be registered somewhere and traceable; planning permission, local council consent, health and safety, etc, etc."
"What about the kit you'd need for the system? Someone must have an order and an invoice filed to get back to."
"Really?" Rob's simple reply. He grinned, "I have my contacts."
He gave me the gym address and I promised to meet him there at the weekend.
I must admit I had to use my satnav to find the gym. It was in an part of town that I wouldn't normally go near. There was a short parade of shops, half of them boarded up and the other half with dirty windows and peeling paintwork. Round the corner in the next street was Rob's gym - in what appeared to be a small converted warehouse. OK, I admit the entrance was clean and newly painted with a tasteful, not gaudy, neon sign,
'Manor Gymnasium and Spa'
. Rob was sat at the small but tidy Reception desk, busily completing some paperwork.
"Hi Terry," he said, standing and shaking my hand. "Thanks for coming. Tea, coffee, mineral water?" he asked, walking over to the brand new vending machine.
"I'm fine, thanks," I replied. I'd built up total intolerance to vending machine coffee at Grandbutts offices. Only occasionally did I waste my well-earned coins there, partaking of its wares with great reluctance. Most of the staff waited for the sandwich van which drew up in the company car park every day at precisely 11 am. It had an assortment of sandwiches and cakes and delicious freshly brewed coffee. The young lady driver, smartly dressed in a pale yellow uniform, bearing the same logo as the van 'Take a Bite' and with long legs, cute butt and small tits, was an endless source of fantasies for me and, no doubt, many of my male colleagues. 'Take a Bite' indeed ... a logo or an offer? I often wondered.
Next to the hot drinks vending machine stood another, offering an assortment of healthy overpriced snacks and very overpriced vitamin and mineral enriched bottled juices and water. I wasn't offered a choice of those.
"I'll take you through to the changing room and gym," said Rob, flashing a smile bright enough to light up the whole building. I got the impression he could charm the pants off any of his female clients and he probably did. He pushed a button on the phone and asked one of the staff to take over reception for a short while.
"Thanks," I offered. I was more interested in what money would be in the deal for me. Gymnasiums and keeping fit in general didn't fit in with my lifestyle. I didn't know it at the time but those ideas would change.
"Like I said before. I have several problems going on that need to be sorted before the business builds. I work on quite a slender profit margin and I keep membership fees very low to encourage more people to join. Much of the profit comes from extras, such as the vending machines, fitness plans, protein shakes and slimming products. Oh, and the tanning booths and massage tables. They're very popular with the ladies." He paused, then smiled again. "And some of the men."
"You're not ... surely not ... " I didn't want anything to do with a massage parlour.
"Heavens no," Rob interjected, but he still had a knowing smile. "The massage tables are only available to members who regularly use the gym and who have been members for more than 3 months."
"But you're not wanting a camera in there?"
Rob smiled again, tapped his nose, "Only for security purposes. If anything dodgy is going on I need to know."
"I bet you do," I smiled back. "And it would have to be covert?"
"I'd be the only one able to access the security," he added. I doubted that. All it needed was a back door into the program. The trojan would be well hidden too. I felt a familiar stirring.
The main area of the gym was well set out. The equipment looked good and varied though not new. The warehouse walls were painted in a pale, neutral beige. Being Saturday afternoon there were a number of members busy getting into shape, a mixture of already fit, and some far from fit men and women. There's something I really like about female butts on exercise cycles and I felt myself firm up again.
"Well, you have all the basics here," I noted. "But," I looked around, "No security cameras."
"This was just a rundown warehouse I rent cheap. I've enough contacts to be able to keep this cheap and enough suckers to pay for the extras."