Chapter 1: Discovery

I’d reached the ultimate in my education, I thought. I was a true scientist, but had no idea how a new neighbor would change my life. I also had no idea how I’d respond to the pretty woman that moved in next door to me.

I walked across the stage, my black gown swirling around me in the mild breeze. This wasn’t the standard graduation gown. Mine had special piping and dark blue velvet on the black sleeves, and along the front zipper. I also had a colored hood around my neck that hung to my waist; the colors appropriate to the university. The colored hood had just been placed there by the Chancellor and Provost, and then they shook my hand. Also, atop my head, I wore not the standard mortar board that the undergraduates wore, but a black tam with the same gold piping. I was finally receiving my doctoral degree after eight years in college. Many of the faculty on the stage were similarly dressed. I got a round of applause from them.

My parents had flown down to witness the completion of my formal education. My father had suggested for years that I might want to get a ‘real’ job, and at this point, I had. I chuckled, because I couldn’t postpone it any longer. In two weeks, I would have left the cloistered halls of academia and started working at CyberShield Security or CSS as a senior fellow. I had taught some computer science courses to supplement my full-ride scholarship, so I’d been considered part-time faculty – a ‘temporary’ job.

My job for CSS was in sunny and warm Sarasota – on Florida’s Gulf Coast. I’d been there twice for job interviews and was impressed with the small city and the sprawl of nice neighborhoods. CSS was based in an industrial park just east of town. I was to bring my expertise in artificial intelligence and cyber security to the company and help secure their customers’ equipment and data security in an increasingly hostile electronic environment.

On a third and last visit to CSS, I’d been set up with a real estate agent who helped me find a nice condominium near the center of town. I wanted to be near the downtown and be able to walk to pubs and restaurants, and even to a grocery store. I’d asked the agent for a water view, and she’d gone me one better and my new abode on the top floor looked out over the city marina, across the bay and some of the barrier islands, and then into the Gulf of Mexico. I had a spectacular view from my balcony and living room. I also had a mortgage about the size of Asia.

Also, there was no doubt that this was not your everyday apartment. Not bad for a twenty-seven-year-old, but I decided to over-spend on the place since I’d be making more money than I’d ever envisioned starting the first of the month and I had faith in my future earnings potential, including promotions up the CSS chain.

I filled my car and a small trailer with my few possessions from my off-campus apartment and left my university town. Three days later, I had moved into my new condo and had a few furniture deliveries scheduled for later in the week. I used my free time to get to know the city and where important things were. I lined up a doctor, dentist, bank, and a few utilities.

After I was established, I got into the swing of things with some of the recreational activities in the region. I bought golf clubs and signed up for lessons. I’d always wanted to fly, so I started taking lessons. I made visits to the local beaches until I’d found a favorite.

In all of my activities, I was alone. I did not have a partner; never had. Sure, I’d dated, but nothing serious. I was a nerd with a relatively low social IQ, and now, having the engineering Ph.D., I was a Super Nerd. I knew that I could try the online dating circuit, but that scared me a bit, so I planned to leave it alone and see what happened. I figured that fate would ultimately seal my destiny. How right that turned out to be.

I was not immune to the pleasures of the flesh. I doubt there was a porn website that I hadn’t discovered and prowled around, at least the free-access sites. I certainly liked good-looking women; I was just too shy to ask any of them out.

Historically, my sister had provided some of that motivation. I’d been set up on dates with some of her friends, but I always kept things above board, even when I got signals that a girl wanted more from me. My focus had been on my studies, plus I worried about what ‘more’ entailed. I also didn’t need one of her friends reporting more than necessary back to my sister.

Cindy, my older sister, had pulled me aside after the graduation ceremony and given me an intense lecture on creating ‘work-life balance’. “This means that you leave work at work except between eight a.m. and five p.m. In other words, bro, get a life!” I took her words to heart. She headed back to her new home and husband on the west coast the next morning. I didn’t know it then, but I wouldn’t see her for another two years or more.

I thought the golf and flying lessons would help begin my new life, but according to Cindy they were holding actions until I really got ‘real’ balance. I didn’t argue with her. I suppose that was part of my passive-aggressive response. I’d just motor on and see what happened.

Work was wonderful. I loved CSS and my new colleagues. Further, they were lagging in terms of using any A.I. to guard the safety and security of their customers’ business. I’d have fun changing that. That was the reason I’d been hired.

My first order of business was in threat detection and analysis. I started working to use A.I. to analyze in new ways the various data we had on each customer and the anomalies that might indicate a threat to their secure and accurate information flows. One financial client estimated that they had nearly a billion attempts a day to break through their firewall.

I was well into the subject after my first month, and had expanded my remit to include user and system behavior patterns. I already had made some modifications to the core monitoring software that CSS used with each customer. I got good feedback from Ross Davis, my boss, and the team that I was on. They liked my contributions and I liked working with them.

One Friday, I got home to my new condo about five-thirty. To my surprise, I found that three burly men from a local delivery truck were bringing up the last of a van full of furniture into the apartment next to mine. I asked one of the moving men who was moving in. He smirked and said, “Sarah Carter it says on the manifest. She’s a looker. You’re next door, huh? You lucky dog. You’ll see.” He winked at me and then picked up an end table by the elevator and carried it into Sarah’s apartment.

I did ‘see’ as I strolled past the door of Sarah Carter’s apartment on the way to mine. I glanced in and saw the absolute beauty of a young woman about my age. I assumed it was my new neighbor. I froze and just stared on her: long blonde hair framing her face, dark eyes, busty, and yet thin with gorgeous legs showing. She wore a crop top and Bermuda shorts and tennis shoes. She was directing two of the men on where to put a piece of modern furniture.

I kept going to my unit next door rather than stare and embarrass myself. I had planned to eat out that night, and so after changing clothes into something more casual and checking my mail, I headed downstairs and out of the high-rise building. I did not see Sarah on this trip; her door was closed. The moving van was also gone when I got to the ground floor.

Saturday, as I was heading out the main door into the parking area about noon, I spotted my hot new neighbor. She must have just arrived back at the condo from a shopping trip. Two things were noteworthy: first, the car she was driving was a pearl white Porsche 911 Turbo, and second, she was trying to combine bags so that she could get all her groceries upstairs in only one trip. My assessment was that it wasn’t going to happen unless she had a grocery cart of some kind. You can’t put ten pounds of shit in a five-pound bag.

I got the courage and gumption to introduce myself. I walked over and said, “Hi. I think we’re next-door neighbors. I’m Doug Mallus. I’m in 1504.” I gestured upstairs towards the top of the condo, admittedly the high rent district. The top two floors were considered to be penthouses.

Sarah stopped organizing bags and shook my hand firmly. “Hi, I’m Sarah – Sarah Carter.” We shared a few neighborly words about her new arrival. She then sighed in resignation and looked at all the groceries. I offered, “How about I help you upstairs with your groceries, if you’ll let me.” I gestured to the pile on the seats and floor of her expensive sports car.

Sarah looked surprised – like really surprised. “Really? You’d do that for me? Me?” She sounded amazed that anybody would help her – of all the people on the planet, it seemed. Her remark seemed particularly personal, as though people would help others, but not her specifically. I’d only understand that later.

“Sure, neighbor. Come on.” I reached into the car and picked up about eight of the poorly packed plastic grocery bags, four in each hand, and headed for the pedestrian door into the elevator foyer. Sarah had picked up the rest and came after me at fast clip. I observed and she was really cute and girly – sexy in a girl-next-door kind of way. Well, she was next door and to say she was sexy seriously understated the adjective.

I got us into the elevator and upstairs as I mouthed more words of welcome and how nice it is to have her as a neighbor. I set the bags on the floor just outside her condo door and bid her a pleasant day. In the process I said, “I’m headed out to have lunch at the Cantina. I’ll see you around.” I kind of kicked myself for not asking her to join me, but then I acknowledged that I’m sort of social misfit and nothing would have come of it except my further embarrassment in front of gorgeous young woman that probably had three-dozen men wrapped around her little finger.

I had just gotten inside the elevator and as the doors closed, she yelled in at me, “Thanks!” She was waving frantically at me in a nice gesture and with a big smile.

As I passed her Porsche, I examined the adult toy closely. The car was almost new and even outside the car, I could smell the new leather seats. I guessed that Sarah had money or a sugar daddy. She was certainly beautiful enough for the latter. I sighed and kept walking towards the restaurant. My bomb of a car sat a few rows away.

A week later there was a Meet-Up in the large common space of the condo building. The purpose was so that people in the building could come and meet each other. Not everyone came; only about half the building, I’d been told, but I figured that I should go and meet some of the other neighbors that I see around the place.

As I headed out of my unit to go downstairs to the party, Sarah was just going into her unit from someplace. I asked, “You going down to the party?” There had been signs up all over the place and in the elevators.

Her response puzzled me. “No. I don’t think that I’d be very welcome there.” She shrugged in resignation, and then disappeared into her unit with a wave over her shoulder.

I went on to the party and met about half the building. I also learned a few things about the history of the building and got the scoop on the HOA. I was pleased to learn more about my new residence and to meet many friendly people.

My next interaction with Sarah came on Sunday morning a week later. I decided to take a run around the bayfront in the city and across the bridge to some of the barrier islands. With my desk job, I needed exercise a lot. As I came out of my unit, Sarah was also emerging dressed for jogging.

“Will you jog with me? Remember, I’m Doug Mallus, your next-door neighbor.” I asked. I surprised myself with my forward nature with the pretty girl. Where had that gumption come from?

“Really? You don’t mind being seen with me?” Sarah said in that amazed tone, again.

“No. Besides, running with you will dress up MY image,” I jested. Sarah was the hottest looking woman in running clothes that I’d ever seen. Actually, in any kind of clothes. She had her long blonde hair back in a ponytail tucked through the back of a Dodgers baseball cap, snug running shorts that hugged her magnificent ass, and a sports bra that was going to have a hard time containing the rest of the merchandise. Further, I noted that she had several geometric tattoos along one arm in an artistic pattern. One word summed her up: Wow!