Chapter 61

Present – Thom – Looking for Inga

I get ready to put on my clothes and realize I smell bad so I take a long hot shower, put on some clean clothes then leave my room to find Inga and smooth things over with her. I can't find her anywhere so I head to the control room, walk in and ask, "Does anyone know where Inga is?"

Gretchen glares at me (I guess she knows what happened) and spits out, "Inga and Mabel just left in a taxi and headed to town."

I leave the control room and head toward the garage to see if I can catch them before they leave.

I pull out my mobile phone, call Inga but I don't get an answer. I guess she's more pissed at me than I thought. I walk into the garage, see Susan loading her bags into a car and ask, "Hey what's going on?"

Susan also glares at me and says, "Well, thanks to you I was fired."

I stutter, "Wai ... Wai ... Wait a minute Susan, let me talk with Jennifer, I'm sure I can clear this up."

Susan swears at me, "Fuck you Thom - forget about it! You really screwed things up because you didn't tell me you and Inga had a relationship. Inga told Jennifer she's leaving and not coming back, that's why Jennifer fired me."

I try to tell Susan, "But I never..."

She shuts me off by saying, " ... Yeah, everyone knows how you tortured poor Inga, flirting with her and then not satisfying her. Hell, you're lucky that Jennifer still lets you stay here, you worthless bastard."

She jumps into the car and leaves. I am left speechless...

Present – Jens – In the control room

I verify that things are set up correctly (in other words this system is totally isolated from the rest of the network), sit down at the computer and begin to analyze the fracking Trojan horse virus which infected our systems. It's a real bastard of a virus since every time I try to decompile the executable, it shuts down the decompiler and morphs into something new.

Gretchen comes over and asks, "How are things going?"

I shake my head and reply, "They aren't going at all! Every time I try to decompile the virus, it changes into something else. How's the system running?"

Gretchen answers, "Things are fine now. I'm sure glad that you had set things up in a virtual environment otherwise we'd be screwed. So what are your plans if you can't decompile the virus?"

I think for a moment and ask, "Can we setup an isolated connection to the Internet?"

Gretchen replies, "Give me about an hour and I can pull one of the pairs off the OC3 network and isolate it. It will be slower, and will of course slow up our network, but it will be totally isolated from the rest of the network. What are your plans?"

I grin at her evilly and say, "I'm going to use it to drive that beotch Stacy crazy with wonderful reports from Ben and my honeymoon."

Gretchen asks, "Are you sure this will work? Won't she know that the honeymoon is over?"

I grin at her and answer, "I don't have any plans to tell her so I don't think she will know."

I have a heck of a surprise when two (actually three) old friends walk into the control room...

Present – Maria, Linus, a baby and Jens – In the control room

Linus and I have been busy ... No, that's not the correct word, we've been occupied. Yeah, Linus knocked me up, we got married and had a beautiful baby girl. Jennifer sees us, jumps up and says, "I've wondered like heck where you've been. Now that I see the baby, I know! Thanks a fricken lot for not telling me."

I apologize, "Sorry Jens, Linus and I sort of lost track of the time. So boss, do we still have a job?"

Jens runs over, hugs me and announces, "Of course you still have a job..."

Linus interrupts, " ... Jens, we want to congratulate you on your wedding..."

Jens frowns and complains while interrupting, " ... Linus, I made a heck of a mistake and I'm not sure if Ben and I are still married."

We're practically in shock when Jens tells us the whole sad story. For myself, I simply can't understand that Jens wouldn't believe Ben. Then she tells us about the sex traffickers capturing them so I naturally ask, "Jens, what are you doing about finding those bastard sex traffickers?"

Jens laughs and responds, "Linus, why should I do anything about them?"

I continue, "Well, shouldn't you find them to prove that Ben didn't father Mira's baby?"

Jens continues, "Linus, I made the mistake of not believing Ben once; I won't do that again - especially since Liz told me about Mira's visits to a fertility clinic in Denver. To be truthful, I'm thankful to have both the twins out of my hair and out of my life."

I look at Maria to see if she knows what I'm thinking. She squeezes my hand and I suggest, "Jens, it's not right to let those bastards get away with taking the girls. We need to do something about this."

Jens says, "Well, I'm satisfied not doing anything since I figure they got what's coming to them. But if you feel so strongly then more power to you."

I affirm, "Okay Jens, I plan on finding them and rescuing whomever they have captured. How's your security force?"

Jens says, "Most of them are new so this will be a good exercise to evaluate their abilities."

I hug Maria, give her and our baby girl a kiss and say, "Well, I'm off to talk to the security team..."

I smile at Maria and say, "Wow that's a beautiful baby girl, what's her name?"

Maria returns the smile and says, "Jens, I hope you don't mind but I named her after my best friend."

I giggle and tease, "Don't tell me you named her Linus?"

Maria laughs and says, "No, we named her Jennifer."

I am floored and ask, "Are you sure you want to give her my name?"

Maria hugs me and affirms, "Of course, Jens, you might not know it, but you changed not only my life, but also Linus's life. You gave me a job when no one else would and then tolerated my drinking problem."

She hands Jennifer to me and says, "Jennifer, I'd like to introduce you to Aunt Jennifer."

She squirms in my arms and I remark, "Wow, I didn't know babies were so heavy. By the way, how is your drinking problem?"

Maria replies to both questions, "Yeah, she's a real armful - some days my arms hurt like crazy just from carrying her. And I no longer have a drinking problem because I no longer drink. I gave it up when Linus knocked me up and I have no plans to ever start again."

I can tell Jennifer wants to be with Maria again so I hand her to Maria and mention, "I guess we will need to give you three one of the bigger rooms. Why don't you check in with Gretchen and have her find you a room.

They leave and I get back to work on the fricken Trojan virus...

Present – Liz and Bernie – Outside

Bernie and I have an incredible time (in spite of not having 'sex'), we're both more than satisfied and Bernie suggests, "Liz, how about we take a little walk."

I know why he wants to take a walk: We've been in the tunnels too much and Bernie's going a little crazy. I smile at him and answer, "That sounds wonderful to me, let's go."

I stop by the mirror, make sure I look okay and frown at the baby bulge. Bernie sees the frown and comments, "Liz you look beautiful to me."

I complain, "Bernie, I'm getting fat!!!"

Bernie interrupts...

I never knew Liz would need so much support, but pregnancy is taking a toll on her self-esteem. I hug her and say, "Liz, you're not getting fat and the doctor even said that you could stand to put on a few more pounds."

Liz whines, "Bernie what if..."

I put my finger over her lips to stop her and say, " ... Liz I know you and I bet you will be back to your normal weight two months after the birth of our baby."

Then Liz confesses to her real problem, "Bernie, I'm concerned how my viewers will feel once they find out I'm preggers."

Ah, now the truth comes out. Liz is always concerned with her ratings, especially since Samantha has been working for us. I smile and say, "Liz, I'm sure they will be almost as excited as we are, especially if you do some reports on your pregnancy."

Liz thinks for a moment, her whole face smiles and she replies, "Bernie, that's a great idea. Thank you."

We open the door to our room, move into the hallway and hear a baby crying?

Present – Bill – taking care of business

We stop by the terminal, pick up Victor and I make the introductions, "Victor, this is my boss Ms. Stacy Summers and this is her best friend Ms. Samantha Stevens - she's the one that's looking for a body guard."

Vic replies, "It's good to meet both of you, thank you for the opportunity to interview for a job."

Ms. Summers asks, "Victor, Bill tells us you have a family?"