Chapter 45: Trouble Brewing

The heat wave has finally broken. Actually, it wasn’t all that long of a heat wave, but it’s nice to be able to go outside without baking. Andy really wanted me to go to his house straight after work, but I decided to run with the team instead before going over. The temperature is thirty degrees cooler than yesterday with a bit of a breeze. It feels good and the entire team is energized. Everyone performs well. The biggest improvement seems to be with the girls–they are all running much better than they were a few weeks ago. Caitlin can now keep up with the main pack of boys and she’s not alone–there are two other girls who can as well.  Everyone’s eager to prepare for a race in Oakland next Sunday after our successful outing yesterday.

My period has really tapered off–thanks to whatever powers that may be. I’ve kept taking the birth control pills all this time and I’m told that without them it’d have been worse. I’m really not going to miss this part of being a girl.  Anyway, it’s nice to not be fighting abdominal cramps while running.

Work today was quiet. Nothing much happened on the spy front. I spent the day either manning the front desk, working on my library program or helping with the picnic planning.  I did check with Steve the programmer to see how he was progressing with my project. He’s not quite done, but should have something for me by tomorrow. He asked me again if I’d heard anything from Tiff.  I told him that I’d talked with her and that she might be up for lunch again but is still skittish. I wouldn’t push for a date quite yet. I had to spend some time encouraging him to do the asking when he asked me to intervene again. I had to convince him that it would be better coming from him. I hope he has the backbone to give it a try.

Funny thing, however, as I was contemplating how to approach Tiff again about him, she solved the problem for me. I got a call from her not long after I’d spoken with Steve wanting to know if I’d heard anything more from him about their lunch date last week.  I told her that he asked about her when I was talking with him earlier. She perked up at that information and wanted to know what he had to say. I just told her that he’s scared to death of spooking her. She wanted to know if he was going to ask her again. I told her that she might be getting a call, but to go easy on the guy. It’s kinda fun putting these two together. I figure this must be what a matchmaker feels like.

When I asked Tiff why she isn’t holding to her commitment to abstain from associating with males she responded that the more she thought about last week’s lunch and the encouragement she received from Laurie and me, the more she’d like to explore the ‘geek option’–as she put it. Besides that, he was a real gentleman and she hasn’t met one of those in while. I told her that I’d been coaching him, and she suggested that I keep it up. She did say, however, that she’d drop him in a heartbeat if he showed any signs of being a typical lecherous male. I guess she is still skittish.

After a very fast and satisfying run Dan, Ben and I are the first back at the school. On advice from my protectors, I make sure that I stay with a group as it’s less likely that the lurking bad guys will try anything short of a sniper attack if I’m with a group. I’m thinking three of us make a group. I kept an eye out for my protection team: I’m not really sure, but I think I saw Jalapeno sitting in the SUV along the running route at one point. 

As we run on to the track find Suzie and Andy waiting for us. Dan and I do the high five thing again as we cool down.

“It looks like someone had a good run,” Suzie says wrinkling her nose at her boyfriend.

“It’s good to see you too, Sweetie,” Dan grins as he tries to give her a hug.

Keeping him at arm’s distance, she replies, “No hugs allowed until after your shower and you get some fresh clothes on.” However, she does give him a quick kiss while avoiding bodily contact.

Andy has no such reservations. He wraps his arms around me and gives me a toe curling kiss. He seems to have gotten over his shyness–which is just fine by me.

“It’s nice to see you too,” I grin at him when we surface for air. “But you might want to put me down before you get too much sweat on you.”

“It’s your sweat, right?” he asks.

“Yeah?” I question him.

“Then I’ll take it,” he grins. The guy must be totally in love. I think it’s kinda cute myself. I also like the kiss that follows our little exchange.

Dan looks at Suzie with a questioning eye.

“Don’t get any idea’s lover boy,” she warns him. “You still need a shower before I’ll let you hold me.”

“Aw, spoilsport,” Dan pouts playfully.

All that time Ben just stands there making gagging sounds, as the next wave of runners–including Caitlin–show up.

Caitlin seems disappointed to see Andy with me and he picks up on it. “Anyone want to go swimming at Shadow Cliffs this evening?” he asks addressing the group as a whole but looking directly at me.

“Sounds great,” I tell him. “We’ll need to go by the house do I can change into my swim suit.” Most of the others are up for idea as well and there is a mad scramble to leave after we all agree to meet there as soon as we can.

Taking Andy aside, I ask him if he minds picking up Caitlin on the way and he’s okay with the idea. I let her know that we’ll be there shortly. She seems appreciative but decides to drive herself and a couple of the other girls who don’t have rides of their own. I think she’s a little jealous of my Andy time. Also, the fact that she’s being helpful to the others is interesting. This is definitely a different Caitlin that the one we knew before this summer. The old Caitlin would never have thought of helping other people.

Back at the house, Laurie is looking bored so she joins us after a quick change of attire. I sneak in very quick rinse in the shower as well. The sweat is a little gross. I go with the tankini top this time to be different and the bikini bottoms covered by Bermuda shorts.  It’s still sunny out, so I add a wide brimmed straw hat borrowed from Laurie and sunglasses.  Looking in the mirror I think I look rather stylish. I’m glad I thought to shave my legs this morning.

Aunt Jen tossed some sandwiches and drinks together while I was getting ready–I reward her with a big hug for that act of kindness. All that running has made me ravenously hungry.  Andy already had the food bag in the car so as soon as Laurie and I made our appearance, we’re quickly on the road. I want to get there so I can start eating.

Aunt Jen told me that she was notifying our keepers of our outing, so I’m not all that surprised to see Helen at the park with the two guys from her squad looking like they’re also out for a relaxing evening.  The three of them are not obviously together, but are spread out around the beach area in locations with strategic views of the vicinity.

After our picnic, we start wading in the water. We’re all a bit bushed from our earlier run, but one of the guys tosses one of the girls into the deep water, and then, well... you get the idea. It’s a full on water fight. It doesn’t take too long for the lifeguard to break it up on the excuse that we’re scaring some of the young kids who are there with their families. After that we settle down to some half hearted water polo or just lounging around and visiting.

Andy and I spend some more time just hanging out on the beach getting to know each other. At one point he asks more questions about my family and I decide to do the same for him. Hopefully talking about his background will get his mind off my background. After all, we know how much guys like talking about themselves.

“Where’s your extended family from?” I ask.

“Dad,” he begins, “is an only child.  His mother died in an accident when he was a teenager and was principally raised by his father who remarried a coworker with whom he had been having an affair.  I guess it was a regular mess. I take it that Grandma Lang’s first husband took issue with her getting pregnant by my grandfather and left her. He has a step brother and step sister but they stayed with the father so there’s not much of a relationship there. Dad and his half brother aren’t at all close being sixteen years apart in age. Grandpa Lang still continues to have affairs, but it doesn’t seem to matter to grandma.

“My mom,” he continues, “on the other hand, came from a much more stable family. Her parents have been married for over forty years. They are great people. They own a guest lodge on an island off the coast of Maine. I really like to visit there but we don’t get there so much since mom bought the store. She has two older brothers and an older sister. Mom’s the baby by several years. I take it she was a surprise. My two uncles are very successful in their fields and are very busy. While they are a close knit family, we don’t hear from them much but when they do show up we have a great time. My Aunt Sally, on the other hand, stays in constant contact with Mom. She, like the rest of the family, lives in New England. The time difference makes communication a little difficult but I think they use email a lot.”

“What’s your Aunt like?” I enquire.

“She’s great,” Andy says smiling. “She’s a few years older than Mom but married slightly later in life and has four kids under the age of twelve. She stays home to raise them. She and her husband, Uncle Jim, own a small business in New Hampshire and she does the bookkeeping from home. She actually has a MBA and was working for a multi-national corporation in Boston when they got married. Uncle Jim worked for the same company but decided to give up the high stress and travel after their first child was born and bought a family retail business in a small town. He just has the stress now, but not the travel. We see them every couple of years whenever we can travel to see them but the distance makes it hard to get to know them.”

“How about your other uncles?” I prod him for more information. “Are they married and have they families?”

“Yeah,” he replies, “Both married after college and are pretty successful businessmen.  The family seems to have a knack for business. Both have two kids each, but we rarely see them so I really don’t know that much about them. Uncle John is a VP with some manufacturing concern in New Hampshire and Uncle Tim does something with wholesaling in Vermont.”

“It sounds as if everyone is well off,” I observe.

“Comfortable is more like it,” he responds. “None of them are filthy rich or anything like that but none are really hurting for money.”

We eventually move off to other topics. It’s just nice to be together. I do get feeling a bit guilty about not being able to be as open with Andy as he’s being with me.

While sunning on the beach with Andy rubbing suntan lotion on my back–his hands rubbing my back feels heavenly by the way–I see Helen is focused on a couple of guys in shorts and T-shirts who are sitting above the beach and watching our group of teens. One of them has binoculars. As I watch, Helen takes her watch off and stuffs it in a beach bag then saunters over to the two guys and chats with them. One looks at his wrist as if she asked him for the time. They both seem to appreciate what they see–she’s wearing only shorts and a bikini top–but seem anxious for her to move on–which she does. Interesting.

I also notice that Manuel (aka Jalapeno) has left his position and is nowhere to be seen. Carl (aka Spud) is continuing to scan the area with occasional looks over at what Helen is up to. They’re obviously checking on these two guys. I’m feeling safer already.

Closing time arrives all too soon and our group goes their separate ways. The two guys are still there as we pile into our cars to leave. Jalapeno and Spud are casually keeping an eye on them while Helen is following us in a non-descript little car.

Andy–ever the gentleman–walks us to the door where Laurie leaves us alone to say our goodbyes. The goodbye kiss is tender this time but no less fulfilling. I linger to watch him drive away.

Aunt Jen greets me with very concerned look as I enter the house.  Laurie is not looking particularly happy either–in fact she’s a little frosty. She and her mother have obviously been talking while I was engaged in amorous goodnights with Andy.

“What’s up?” I ask.

“Steph just called,” Aunt Jen. “It appears that the bad guys may have arrived.”

“Oh,” I replied, “I wonder if it’s the two guys that Helen was checking out at the park.”

“Probably,” she says. “They’re checking on them right now. It appears that Mr. Rana asked his goons to keep an eye on you, or so some intercepted email would imply. He wants them to be ready to ‘remove you’ on short notice if necessary. He’s also put some pressure on his leak in the security team to find out more about you. When that came to light, Susan and I finally confronted our suspect this morning and let him know that we’re up to his tricks and, if he wants to make life in prison easier, he needs to keep your identity safe–even from the FBI.”

“Can we trust him to keep the secret?” Laurie asks with concern.

“Yes,” she replies, “I’m pretty sure we can. The guy seemed almost relieved to have been caught.  Apparently he was being blackmailed into this by Rana. Being exposed raised a huge burden from his shoulders and he’s being very cooperative–he spent several hours spilling his guts to the investigators late this afternoon. Our leak has now become a triple agent of sorts. When it became apparent that there’re not any more known leaks in the security team, we convened a meeting of the group this afternoon and turned the whole mess over to the FBI.”

“So Steph’s in charge now,” I observe. This doesn’t inspire confidence in me. Not that there’s anything wrong with Steph, it’s just that she can’t have much experience at her age, though who am I to talk?

“No,” Aunt Jen corrects me, “she’s just watching over you. There’s a much more senior agent running this show. They have surprising number people involved in this case.”

“I guess we don’t need to be so concerned about the Lab’s electronic devices then,” I comment. It was getting to be a pain trying to control what they do and don’t hear over my devices.

“You’re right,” she says. “Everything that is passed on by our leak is now approved by the FBI. In fact, you can now use them for their original intended purpose. However, Tina, you should still keep your other secret phone for private conversations that aren’t connected to the investigation.”

“What private phone?” Laurie asks in surprise. If looks could kill, I’d have been vaporized.

“You knew about that?” I ask, also surprised.

“Just a guess,” she grins. “I know you’ve been talking with my brother-in-law and it’s not been showing up on your Lab cell phone.”

“How...” I sputter.

“As things came clearer, we started comparing notes,” she explains. “Bill mentioned that you’d been talking with him but he didn’t say how. I figured that one out myself.”

“You didn’t tell me about any private phone,” Laurie confronts me with a hurt expression. It looks like I’ve dug myself a hole here.

“I figured that the fewer people knowing about it the better,” I apologize, but I get the impression that Laurie’s feelings are hurt for keeping her out of the loop. Add that to her opinion that I should bail out of the investigation and you get one unhappy girl.

Before this confrontation can escalate, Aunt Jen gets back to the original topic. “Girls, both of you must be very careful. As yet, we haven’t really identified all the bad guys and we don’t know what they are likely to do at this point.  We’re pretty sure that they won’t make a move until directed to do so by Rana. Tina, I know the FBI wants to keep you in the game, but the Lab security team is prepared to bring back Chris anytime.”

The offer keeps turning up but I’m committed to staying for the duration.

“Changing back is probably the wise thing to do,” I admit to them, “but I really want to see this through.”

Aunt Jen looks very concerned. Laurie is just plain mad at me. I’m not sure if she’s mad about my not trusting her, or if she’s mad because I won’t get out of harm’s way.  Probably it’s a combination of both.  She just spins on her heel and marches back to her room, slamming the door when she gets there.

“What’d I say?” I ask Aunt Jen in confusion.

“I’m not entirely sure,” she replies, “but I think you’ll need to talk with her when she cools down. I suspect that she thinks you don’t trust her.”

She gives me a big hug and holds me as she says, “Darling, I’m scared for you. It’s a dangerous game we’re involved in. I never thought it’d be like this. I’ll never be able to face your parents again if something happens to you. I really had to lean on your mother to get her to agree to this in the first place. I’m sorely tempted to pull the plug right now.”

I return the hug. It hadn’t really occurred to me how fond I’ve grown of this caring woman.

“Please don’t,” I plead with her. “I really want to see this through. If things get bad, the FBI will be there to take care of me.”

“They can’t do everything, you know,” she points out. “They can make mistakes too.”

“Well,” I respond, maybe too jauntily, “let’s just hope nothing bad happens.”

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Have I mentioned how much I hate intervals? It’s Wednesday evening again and we went at it hard since the weather is still unseasonably cool–the air temperature is in the low 70s. Caitlin was actually there this evening. Right now we’re soothing our sore muscles in her family’s hot tub. She tells me that she’s ready for the improvement that intervals will give her. This girl is not lazy.

“I’m kinda glad that Andy had to help his mom with that class tonight,” Caitlin mentions. “Don’t get me wrong–he’s a great guy and all that, but it’s nice to spend time with just you. I feel like a spare tire when I’m around you two.”

“Sorry about that,” I apologize sincerely. “We don’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable.”

“It’s not like that,” she clarifies. “It just that you two just kinda zone out the rest of the world at times and I hate to interfere. I guess that’s just the way young love is.”

“I suppose,” I reply dreamily. Changing the subject, “I need to talk my parents into getting one of these hot tubs. They’re very relaxing. I could stay in here all night.”

“They are great,” she agrees, “aren’t they. So what you doing this weekend?  I’ve got Saturday off.”

“I don’t know,” I reply lazily, “Andy’s working and Laurie’s still mad at me for some reason. What do you have in mind?”

“I was thinking about a shopping trip,” she says, “I’m considering updating my wardrobe a little. I like how things went Friday night.”

She laughs when she sees my shocked expression.

“Don’t look so surprised, Tina,” she chuckles. “I hate to admit it, but I was more comfortable than I would have been with that tube top and Al really did behave himself–for the most part.”

“Are you sure you want to take fashion advice from a tomboy?” I quiz her. This girl really is turning over a new leaf.

“I think you’ve come a long way in your fashion sense this summer,” she tells me. “It’s just different to what I’d have done, but it seems to work.”

“You better be careful,” I warn her. “Your parents might die of shock.”

She just laughs and says, “You have to keep them guessing, you know.”

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Laurie is still out with Amy, Cindy, and Marjorie when I get home at a fairly reasonable hour. Aunt Jen is there and so is my mother. It looks as if I’m breaking up an intense conference as I enter the house.

“Hi, Mom,” I say giving her a big hug. It’s really nice being able to do that since we’re alone. “I’ve missed you guys.”

“Oh, sweetie, I’ve missed you too,” she responds, “it’s so hard trying act like you’re not a Quinn even though you don’t look much like one right now.”

“I know,” I commiserate with her. “You know, it’s all I can do to not call Dad, ‘Dad’ at work.”

With the preliminaries over with, she looks at me with an appraising eye. “Jen tells me that you’re in some danger.” Straight to the point as usual. “I want to know why you’re still in the game. I’m thinking it’s time to end this charade.” And, I can tell by her expression, the answer had better be good if I don’t want my girl time to end tonight.

I spend the next few minutes trying to explain the consequences of my bailing at this point. Things like it would tip off the bad guys that someone is on to them and hence jeopardize the operation and that it’s important to catch them all. I toss in the argument about the FBI needing more time accumulate sufficient evidence to convict the whole ring. I try to placate her with assurances that I have the best of covert security watching me–at least I think I do since I haven’t noticed too many of them the past couple of days.

“Jen assured us that you’d be in no danger when she proposed this scheme,” she shoots the evil eye at Jen who looks somewhat chagrined, “and that if it got too intense that she’d pull you out. Now she tells me that there is a known strong threat against you and that you’re still in the game. Jen tells me that she’s offered to take you out of it, but that you want to stay in. I don’t buy your its-for-the-good-of-the-operation explanation as being the whole reason for your continued involvement, young lady. Would you care to tell me the rest of the story?”

You have to hand it to Mom–her engineer training is such that she makes decisions on as complete information as possible. She’s always one to give you a chance to explain yourself before she lowers the boom. I’ve always appreciated that.

I’m not sure what to say so I hesitate. Do I tell her about wanting to be Andy’s girlfriend just a little longer or that I like my current relationships with Caitlin and Laurie? Do I tell her that I’m enjoying being treated like a lady or that I starting to like all the options available for clothing?

Seeing my hesitation, Mom does something she hasn’t done to me since I was little.  She sits next to me and hugs me close. Once the surprise wears off I find tears streaming down my cheeks. Where did those come from?

When I don’t stop crying, she gently says, “Let me guess. I bet my little boy has discovered a whole new world and wants to enjoy it for as long as he can. Am I close?”

I just nod my head and cry a little harder. Eventually I can speak again. “Only right now, I’d change the pronouns. I know that deep inside I’m still the boy Chris but I feel like the girl Tina these days.”

“Oh, what a sorry mess this is,” she continues to comfort me. “This is more than a disguise isn’t it, sweetheart?”

Again, I nod affirmatively.

“We never should have agreed to this,” she sighs.

“Don’t say that, Mom,” I tell her. “I’m so glad that you did. I don’t really want to stay Tina forever, but I’ve really enjoyed learning what it means to be a girl. More importantly, I’ve helped accomplish what I was hired for and then some. There are lots of things I miss about being Chris, and there will be lots of things I miss about being Tina, but Chris is who I’m supposed to be–I think.” I throw up my hands in frustration. “Actually, it probably doesn’t really matter whether I’m Chris or Tina. I’ll be happy either way. It’s just that it’s Chris who will need to come back at the end of the summer.”

“Are you sure, sweetie?” she asks.

“Yeah,” I say without real conviction, “At least I think so. I suspect that it’s kinda like going on a great vacation. Remember when we went on that long vacation to Loon Lake a couple of years ago? We spent the whole time fishing and hiking in the Sierras. I really didn’t want to come back from that trip. It was wonderful. But it had to come to an end and we came home to everyday life. I remember mowing the lawn the day after we got home, missing all the good times we’d had.  While I hated coming back, it wasn’t long before we were back to everyday things–many of which I really enjoy and would have missed had we stayed gone longer. In the end, we have a great memory and are better off for the experience. The memory will enrich us for our whole lives. I suspect that this experience will be similar. It’ll be hard to go back, but it’s the right thing to do.”

“That’s somewhat profound,” Jen comments. “Amanda, you should be proud of your child. She’s one of a kind.”

“Yes, she is,” Mom thoughtfully replies. “I’m still not comfortable about your keeping with this project on account of the danger element, but I can see why you might want to prolong it. From what Jen tells me, you do have some pretty good help keeping an eye on you.”

“So you’ll let me continue?” I ask with hope in my voice.

“For now, and against my better judgment,” she says. “I’ll have to discuss this further with your father. I have some conditions, however. First, you check in with me once a day and let me know that you’re safe. You can call me, email me, text me, or whatever, but I want to hear from you every day.”

“I can do that,” I allow. That one’s easy.

“Next, you follow every instruction that you’re given by your keepers to the letter,” she continues. “If I get wind that you’re side-stepping them at all and making their job of protecting you difficult I’ll pull the plug. Jen will let me know when that happens.”

Jen nods her agreement.

“No problem,” I grin. These conditions are easy.

“Finally,” she smiles at me, “I get to spend an evening with my new daughter sometime before she disappears.”

“Well,” I’m a bit taken aback by this one. This is a weird request. “We’ll have to coordinate calendars on that one.”

“Do you agree to my terms?” she asks.

I just give her a big hug, “I love you, Mom. I’ll be a good girl and abide by your conditions.”

“I love you to, sweetie.” Is that emotion I hear in her voice?

“Speaking of Loon Lake,” she suddenly gets an idea. “How about we take a long weekend and go up there for a few days? We haven’t used the RV at all this summer. Jen and Laurie can come to. It’d be good to get you away from this madness for a few days. I’d feel better getting you away from harm’s way.”

“Can I bring another friend or two?” I ask.

“We never let your sisters bring their boyfriends on these trips,” she points out obviously knowing where this is going. “Why should I let you?”

“He won’t be my boyfriend much longer?” I suggest hopefully. “And he’s a lot more honorable than anyone Tiff or Marla has brought home.”

She considers this for a moment.

“Andy really is a good kid,” Aunt Jen supports my petition. “Not only that, but technically Tina is my niece–not your daughter–this summer. I think that Bill would approve with the right chaperoning.”

“Good points, but deep down the ‘he’ that is the foundation for ‘her’ is my child so I get some say in this.” Mom recognizes defeat when she sees it. Or does she just see a way to justify giving me some latitude she never gave my sisters. “But the boy sleeps in a tent–without you.”

“Thanks, Mom,” she gets a very enthusiastic hug. “Whoever said you’re an Ogre was just plain wrong.”

“Who said that?” she demands with a frown.

“I’m not telling,” I grin at her.

After some discussion, we agree to take off a week from tomorrow for four days in the mountains. I’m sure that Dad will go along with this plan. Mom will make sure of it.

How great is this? I get to stay a girl, hang out with my boyfriend 24/7 for four days–if he can go, AND go camping and fishing in my favorite place with all my favorite people. I feel like I just struck it rich in the lottery. I can hardly wait to see if Andy and Caitlin can go.

In fact, I can’t wait.  I call Andy’s house but am surprised not to get an answer. I leave a message for him to call me.  That boy really needs to get his own cell phone. I send him an email also with the invitation and some details. I beg him to find a way to get the time off.

When I call Caitlin, she sounds excited but she’s not sure she can get the time off. She’ll try anyway.

“Are you sure I won’t get in the way of your Andy time?” she asks. “I don’t want to be a spare.”

“No, I think we can make it work,” I assure her. “After all, the adults think I should have a chaperone around and I think you’d be great.”

“Like I said,” she reminds me, “I’ll see what I can do.” I guess that’s all I can ask.

Laurie is still not home when I get to bed. I really need to fix whatever is wrong there. She’s hardly said a word to me since Monday even though I’ve tried to talk with her several times.

I’m just starting to nod off when my cell phone goes nuts.

Looking at the phone, I wake up instantly. It’s a high priority email from the censor program Steve and I managed to plant on the Lang’s system yesterday. Dr. Lang must have gotten home safely and he’s sent email to Mr. Rana.

I don’t have time to find an anonymous location, so I just boot up my computer and let myself into the Langs system. All computers are up and running there tonight.

Looking in the log, I find the email that Dr. Lang just sent. Opening it, I find an encrypted file and a message.  The file turns out to be a synopsis of the Washington visit–there’s nothing that’s a problem there, so I allow the email to go to its intended destination. I’m sure the FBI geeks will be seeing it soon.

Apparently things aren’t happy on the home front. Dr. Lang complains of his wife interrogating him about his trip. Apparently she was accusing him of some indiscretions while he was away without giving any details. She’s pretty hot and he’s finding the couch uncomfortable. He wants to know if Mr. Rana let something slip.

I see a reply to my earlier email to Andy. He says that he’d love to go, but right now his parents are in the midst of a major battle so it’s not a good time to ask. Plus, he may have trouble getting time off from work for that long. That was sent shortly after I had sent him the invitation.

Looking at Mrs. Lang’s email, I find a very interesting one from an anonymous hotmail account. The sender claims to be a private investigator who has been working on a related case and also claims to have heard that she’s considering action against her husband. He provides a link to some streaming video which he figures will help her case. It seems that my FBI buddies are helping her.  I’m sure the video has multiple uses. The investigator asks that Mrs. Lang not to reveal this video for at least a week so as to not compromise his investigation. He’ll let her know when all’s clear.

Clicking on the link, I see an image of a classy looking lady knocking on a hotel room door at 9:12 pm on Monday–or so says the date stamp on the bottom on the screen. Dr. Lang answers the door and invites the woman in. The scene switches to a camera in the room.  What comes next could have come out of the sex videos he’s been watching. The audio is pretty good too. I can’t watch too much of it, but find myself smiling. Mrs. Lang won’t be Mrs. Lang much longer with this kind of footage. Looking at the time stamp on the email, I see that it arrived this morning.

Checking  her email log further, I notice that she forwarded it to her attorney around noon today with the note, “Will this do the trick? See the note from the investigator.”  The reply that came back said, “You bet, I’ll have the paperwork ready in the morning. I won’t mention the video. We’ll reveal that later.”

Things are about to hit the fan chez Lang. I just hope that Andy and his mother can survive it.

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Edited by Gabi who gives a new perspective on the English language to a colonist.