Chapter 8: The Secret

Jo stepped delicately around the rack of servers, trying to be quick yet quiet. She was creeping through the server room of The Pearl. Although, it was less a room and more a large closet. Jo knew that Lenny had set it up and was the only one who frequented the room. Still, she had to be fast. She had no reason to be in here and wouldn’t be able to explain her presence if she was caught.

She needed to find a USB port, but the right USB port. Jo was not technically inclined, but the friend who had given her the tiny device certainly was. He had simply told her where to put it and that he would do the rest remotely.

Yes, she was taking a risk. She could be caught right now installing the USB stick. Or Lenny could notice it. There were risks. But the potential upside was obvious. Information on Dave’s accounts, both on the books and the hidden ones off the books. Incomings and outgoings. But more importantly, perhaps the identity of the mystery hacker who had been stealing from Dave. Jo was determined to reveal the identity of this hacker and Lenny was moving too slowly. If she could get to him or her first, who knew what sort of information they would know about Dave’s dealings with Captain Price?

None of this was legal. They had no warrant yet and any evidence collected could never be used. Officially. Unofficially, Jo knew the information could be invaluable. She just knew she couldn’t tell Mike where she was getting any of this. Her partner was a straight arrow. If he knew she was doing this, he would go ballistic. But Jo didn’t care. She had told Mike before that she would do whatever it took to get Price. She had meant it. Working in a strip club for months wasn’t exactly standard undercover work. Jo was willing to do it. Installing this device was also jeopardizing her career. If that was the price, she would pay it gladly.

Mike wanted Price behind bars for moral reasons. He had a thing for corrupt cops. For Jo, it was personal. Her father had been on the force for 26 years when he had accused Price of taking backhanders to look the other way to potential crimes. Bribery, basically.

Her old man was an honest cop and had reported Price to internal affairs. Price didn’t take kindly to that and had dedicated himself to destroying her fathers career. Price planted contraband from the evidence locker in her fathers car which had subsequently been uncovered during a “random” check. Her Dad had been suspended, investigated and ultimately released from the force under a cloud of suspicion.

To say he hadn’t taken it well would be an understatement. The collapse of his moral world view destroyed him. He had become committed to drinking himself into an early grave. Years of heavy drinking led to the obvious outcome. Cirrhosis of the liver followed by complete liver failure. Jo had gotten tested but wasn’t a match to donate. There had been nobody else and an alcoholic wasn’t exactly near the top of the transplant list. With no options, his last days were spent in a hospital bed looking gaunt and jaundiced as the inevitable happened. She had held his hand as he died.

Jo refused to remember him like that. She remembered the good man who had raised her on his own after her mother had run off. She remembered the man who learned to braid her hair. Who had taken her to her first dance. The man who had beamed with pride when she told him she wanted to be a cop too. And finally, she remembered the man who had taken it all away. She’d take Price down if it was the last thing she did. Shaking her ass and grinding on slobs for a few months was worth it. So was this.

Jo located the correct port and slid the tiny USB device in and watched it blink it’s green light repeatedly.

Job done. Get out before somebody notices.

Her shift was finishing soon and she had to meet Mike to go over the latest regarding the case. She would keep this little adventure to herself. What he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him. Whatever information the tiny device turned up, she’d tell him it came from somewhere else.

Jo left the server room and closed the door carefully behind her. She reattached the padlock she had picked earlier, leaving it just as she had found it. She headed back out onto the main floor, resigned to doing a couple more dances before her meeting with Mike. She noticed an elderly gentleman sitting alone, either enjoying the atmosphere or waiting to be approached. She thought she recognised him as a regular.

He’ll do, she thought as she strode towards him. It’s worth it, Jo. It’s worth it...

Mike checked the time on his phone as he sat at their usual table in the Rise and Grind cafe, located opposite The Pearl. Mike was deep in thought, wondering if the name was a coincidence or an intentional joke at the cafe’s proximity to The Pearl when he noticed Jo walk in and head towards him.

“Spill it,” Jo said eagerly as she slid into the seat opposite him in the booth. “Did you arrest Sarah? Did you flip her?”

“No,” Mike answered tersely. Jo frowned at him.

“Why not? What happened? Are you really telling me that Sarah didn’t offer extras? Seriously?” Jo said, surprise evident on her face. “You didn’t ... finish early, did you?” Jo asked with a mixture of curiosity and embarrassment.

“Christ Jo, no. I didn’t get Sarah into the VIP,” he said defensively with a hint of anger at her suggestion.

“Why not?”

“Because half the place had the same idea. She was up on the main stage when I arrived, doing the pole thing,” he answered irritably.

He’s in a foul mood today.

“Right. It’s okay. We can try again. I’ll get her shift schedule. We can time it so that you arrive when she is about to clock in,” Jo suggested. She watched as Mike shifted uncomfortably.

“No need,” he said. “I went with the backup you suggested.”

“Lara?” Jo asked, her face unreadable to him.

“Yes.”

“And?” Jo asked, beginning to get frustrated at Mike’s monosyllabic answers.

“And it went well,” he said, avoiding her gaze.

“So you booked her?”

“No,” he said simply. Jo just stared at him. Then it dawned on her. Her face darkened and she stared at him with narrowed eyes.

“You fucked her, didn’t you?” she said, her voice low.

The long flowing hair. The bubble butt. The perfect tits. Of course he fucked her, she thought as jealousy roared through her.

“No! Of course not! We didn’t ... I mean ... I didn’t...” he replied stammering.

“Mike stop bullshitting me. We are supposed to be partners,” Jo said, the hurt on her face obvious. It ran deeper than she would ever admit to him. He took a deep sigh.

“You’re right. I’m sorry. I’m embarrassed, okay? It didn’t go the way I’d planned it,” he said, his eyes shifting between her and the table as he talked. Jo tried to take control of her emotions.

He’s a square. A straight arrow. It had been his first time in a strip club. Theory is not practical experience. I should have prepared him better. He was in there with Lara, for fuck sake. No wonder it didn’t go to plan. It’s not his fault. Well, not only his fault. Men don’t have enough blood to think with more than one head at a time.

“I get it, okay? Just walk me through it. I won’t judge,” she said, wanting to believe her own words too. “So you got in there. She started to dance?”

“Yes. We chatted a bit first. Exchanged names. In fact, she tried to talk me out of the VIP. She clocked me as a first timer straight away. Didn’t want me to get ripped off, I guess,” he said. Jo nodded. That sounded like Lara, alright. “But you insisted?”

“Yeah. So anyway, we’re in there and she is doing her thing and it’s going well. I’m waiting for her to offer some ... services.”

“What did she offer?” Jo asked.

“Nothing. She didn’t need to offer anything,” Mike answered.

“So you came early?” she asked matter of factly.

“Fucking hell, Jo. Do we really have to go into detail here?”

“Yes, we do. I’m in there with her, Mike. Every day. I need to know exactly what happened,” Jo answered him. The reasoning was sound but it wasn’t the truth. She needed to know. For herself. It would eat away at her if she didn’t know.

“So you didn’t come early but she’s grinding on you and she had you worked up?”

“Yeah. Very worked up. She’s very good at her job. She kept talking to me. Saying sexy stuff. I was surprised that was part of it.”

“Did she have her bra off at this point?”

“She wasn’t wearing one. It was a corset type thing. She uh ... made me unzip her.”

“So she’s going to town on your junk and she has her big naked tits in your face,” Jo said, getting a little worked up herself now.

“Yeah, but nothing out of bounds was happening so I realized I had to push things along otherwise I would ... um ... finish,” he said.

“So you asked her to blow you?”

“Not in so many words but yes, I suppose,” he said, pursing his lips.

Jo imagined it in her mind. Mike sitting there in a chair, Lara naked and kneeling between his legs as she swallowed his cock. Him groaning as she devoured him. She could feel how wet she was.

Fuck, I wish it had been me instead, she thought to herself as she imagined what his cock would look like, would feel like, would taste like. She suppressed a moan and tried to focus.

“So why didn’t you just end it there and then? She agreed to the blowjob, right? That’s enough. Why didn’t you end it and take her in?” Jo asked, knowing the answer already but wanting him to say it.

“That is what I intended to do, Jo. I mean, I wanted to stop it and bring her in. But it all happened so fast. She was on me so quickly and I just ... didn’t do what I should have. It had been a while for me and I just got carried away, I guess,” he admitted, forlornly.

“So super Mike is human after all, go figure,” Jo said, smiling at him now. He looked sheepishly at her before responding.

“I never claimed to be perfect, Jo,” he said.

“So she’s on her knees blowing you. Did you come on her face?” Jo asked, intentionally using graphic imagery.

“Bloody hell, Jo. There is no way that this can be relevant,” he said, his cheeks flushing red in embarrassment.

“It is relevant. It might come up in girl talk,” she said.

“If you say so,” he answered.

“So did you finish on her face?” Jo asked.

“Well, no. I didn’t do ... that.”

“So you finished in her mouth?”

“Yes.”

“And she swallowed?”

“Jo...” Mike said, glaring at her now and clearly finished describing the encounter.

“Alright. I think I have a good idea of what went down now. Stop me if I get it wrong. She grinds into you. Shakes her big tits in your face. Talks dirty to you. You can’t last so you suggest she sucks you off. Only she is too much for you and instead of cuffing her, you come down her throat. Post-nut clarity hits and you don’t feel right bringing her in after what happened so you just spill your guts to her instead,” Jo said. “That about sum it up?”

“Yeah that’s about the gist of it,” he answered solemnly.

“And what about me? Did you mention me?” Jo asked, now a little worried.

“Of course not. What do you take me for? She doesn’t need to know. Not yet, anyway. Your cover is intact,” he said, thankful to be off discussions of “coming” finally. She nodded, relieved.

“So how did she react?” Jo asked.

“About how you would expect. Shock, mostly. But Jo, then she offered to help. Just like that. She asked if we would prosecute her. I reassured her it was all about Captain Price. She said she was in. She’s going to quietly inquire with their I.T. guy about Dave’s dealings with Price,” he said, a hint of admiration in his voice. Jo found it irritating but moved past it.

“Lenny. She’ll talk to Lenny,” she confirmed.

“Right, yeah. Kowalski. Him. I told her I’d contact her and meet up to exchange any new info,” he said.

“I assume this meet up will be fully clothed this time, yeah?” Jo asked, unable to hide the iciness in her voice.

“What happened to no judgement?” Mike asked, a little hurt by her insinuation. “It was a moment of weakness. It won’t be happening again,” he said curtly. Jo immediately regretted her comment and tried to play it off as a joke.

“I know, I know. I was only busting your balls,” Jo said. “I’m sure the way she busted them was more fun,” she said, with a giant grin. He laughed, his first laugh since she had sat down. She could listen to him laugh all day.

“You got me there. I can certainly see why so many guys spend their pay checks in places like that. It was certainly an experience,” he said, almost wistfully as if remembering the previous night again.

“Well, next time you go in there undercover, come find me for a dance instead. You’ll be safe with me,” she said, only half joking.

“Yeah, sure thing,” he said, laughing a little harder than Jo liked.

Lara walked through the large mall, holding her phone to her ear as she went. This particular mall was miles out of her way but she had just gotten her Beetle back in near pristine condition and wanted to celebrate by visiting some clothes shops she hadn’t been to before.

“What did you two talk about?” Lara asked Alan down the phone as she walked.

“Not much, Lara. Not much,” Alan answered back through the phones speaker. “Frankly Lara, I don’t know what to say to the guy any more. Ever since you told me what he did, I can’t look at him the same way. Honestly, when he talks to me, I just want to punch him in his teeth.” Lara smiled to herself as she imagined Alan doing it.

He’d need a big damned glove though. Will was a big guy.

“Well, it would be counter-productive, Alan. I need you there to keep tabs on him and you can’t do that if you two fall out,” Lara reminded him as she glanced through a store window at some lingerie.

“I know. I’m just not that good an actor, Lara. I think he knows something is up. I spent most of the event trying to avoid him,” Alan said.

Alan had called to debrief Lara on the “WonderTech Charity Barbecue” event he had attended with Will, Rob and Lenny. Will’s father was the CEO of the company and held it every year. Lara had been concerned that Will and Rob would target some poor unsuspecting girl and repeat what they had done to Lara. She had tasked Alan with making sure that nothing happened. It was the best she could come up with as her long term plan wasn’t ready to put into effect yet with Will’s incriminating video still hanging over her head.

“So you avoided him, huh? Talk to Lenny much? He told me Will invited him and he couldn’t shut up about it.” Lara said.