Frankie's Story Ch. 09

"I look forward to that evening so much my Master, but I understand it will be allowed only if Doctor Kellerman agrees. Even if it's only the once and my ass is kept as a punishment from then on I will understand and keep that night close to my heart, this slave will be whole that evening."

Joseph phoned me later that evening, he had found a good therapist for Red's post traumatic stress and her treatment would begin the day after Red went back to the clinic. He wanted Red to stay at the clinic for one more week and then as an outpatient, until the therapist was satisfied with her progress. I asked him if the therapist had seen the film that Joseph would have made in the room. The pause told me enough.

"Her comment was that although it was dangerous and unorthodox. It was the strangest shock treatment she had seen, but seeing the film gave her a foundation to build on and the fact Red had made her peace with Caroline helped."

All that was left now, was the settlement that Mathew was dealing with and all ties with Hollywood would then be severed.

*******

Although I'm used to the silence that always emanated from Marlon's lab, often I would go down there just to see if he was even in the building. I told Frankie on the way into work that I needed to catch up with Marlon and get an idea on how long this project of Harper Industries was going to take and if he and I would end up locked in his lab for the duration.

My first stop was to see Mrs. Gillins and play catch up before heading down to Marlon's lab; Jodie was sitting in her seat, while Mrs. Gillins was across the room next to a cabinet reading a file. She looked up and smiled at my reaction.

"Get used to it Jack, when you call me, more often than not, I will be sending Jodie in to deal with you. Neither of us has time to make this transition a slow one."

I poured my own coffee and sat across from Jodie.

"Has he set the wedding date yet?"

Jodie smiled and nodded her head.

Mrs. Gillins placed the file back into the cabinet and walked across the room.

"I will thank you both not to talk about me like I'm not here. As a matter of fact, he hasn't yet, Rebecca phoned me and told me that Thomas is making tentative plans and has already hired a wedding planner. Rebecca and Niamh have already volunteered themselves as bridesmaids should I want any."

It occurred to me that Jodie was still hiding behind her silence. I'm sure that the next drama would sort that out one way or another, I sipped at my coffee and we all talked, catching up on all but what I was heading down to Marlon's Lab to deal with.

"We have a problem."

I did nothing more than grab Marlon by the arm and take him outside to the coffee machine, sat him down and fed him coffee for the next ten minutes. Every time he opened his mouth I put my hand up to silence him until we had both finished our coffee.

"Answer yes or no... Have you finished your coffee?"

"Yes."

"Is the problem in your mind still a big one since the boss bought you a coffee?"

"Yes and don't you dare threaten me with Francine again, that's not fair."

"You were told to answer yes or no."

I pulled my cell out of my pocket and called up to Frankie inviting her to lunch with us as long as she got the pizzas delivered. Poor Marlon almost cried as he sat and listened to my conversation. Hell I even got him another free vend coffee from the machine to commiserate, forty minutes of general conversation later Frankie and Jodie came down the corridor carrying two boxes each.

Marlon alternated his terrified look between me, the girls walking and talking down the corridor and fire exit.

"That's not fair."

I smiled and we all walked into Marlon's man cave for lunch. Jodie acted as a good foil for Marlon. I couldn't beat up on him too much; Frankie couldn't sit and stare at him, or even smile occasionally. She had a calming effect on him that I hadn't seen any female have with him since he had been here, while the girls sat and listened, Marlon told me that one of the circuit boards that Mitchell Industries had sent over had a 'bastard program' installed and he had traced the board back to the Sanchez brothers company.

"Ok, back to basics. How do you know all this?"

"I recognized the signature it was giving off and phoned a friend of mine. We had a chat and he admitted that he had seen this type of signature a couple of times before. Boss, this can't be installed anywhere else. If we do, it's a backdoor program for any hacker to let themselves in and do all sorts of fun stuff."

Both the girls had stopped eating about halfway through there pizza. The implications of what Marlon was saying were grave.

"Girls I need you both to pack up and head back to the office. Frankie, get in touch with Samantha and tell her I need an appointment with her and her father as soon as possible. Jodie, go home and pack a bag you need to be back here in three hours."

"Why?"

I didn't get a chance to answer, Frankie had her by the arm and was already steering her out of Marlon's Lab.

"Isolate it. Don't destroy it for now, but make sure it sits in the deepest darkest part of this lab and only you can get at it, even if I send Frankie down here to get it, you keep it away from any living being on this planet and especially from our own mainframe. Do I make myself clear?"

The relief that he no longer had sole responsibility for this was evident to see. Marlon even smiled and nodded his head. To him I was already out of his lab, his full attention once again of the potential monster sitting on his desk. Mrs. Gillins stood as I came into my office; Frankie was still on the phone so we found a quiet corner.

"In all the time I was here you never took me out to one of your business associates, yet you're dragging Jodie with you."

"You, I never needed to worry about. Jodie I do, I need to see with my own eyes how she handles this. This company could be sailing very close to the wind, depending on what I get out of Mitchell Harper. I need her close by as I will Frankie. If she passes this I will personally walk you down the isle and accept Jodie as your replacement, but she has to come with us, conference calls and phone calls aren't going to cut it this time."

She nodded her head. "I thought as much, just look out for her Jack."

"No. She stands or falls on her own. We all have a job to do on this trip and not much time to back each other up. She has a job and you claim she knows her job, now its test time. Frankie will help if she can, but she will have enough to do as it is.

For a moment, Mrs. Gillins started to say something, then smiled and changed her mind.

"Mitchell Harper has cleared all of tomorrow afternoon; Samantha was heading out to New York in the morning but has put that on hold. Our flight leaves in three hours and were booked into the Rossington for an initial two days, but we have dibs on the rooms for longer if we need them. You have a suite and I'm in with Jodie."

We both listened to Frankie as she spoke. Mrs. Gillins just couldn't help herself as she walked towards the door.

"No time to check out adjoining rooms then, huh?"

Frankie colored and smiled. I don't know why she did, that damn woman knew everything, and she was just reminding us that she did.

*******

We met Jodie at the airport and all three of us went business class, I just looked at Frankie. She smiled and said they were the only available seats. The temptation to check out coach and toss her skinny ass down there if she had lied was only held in check because Jodie was sitting between us and seemed like she was in her own personal hell.

"You could have told us you don't like flying."

"Mrs. Gillins told me to keep my mouth shut until we landed."

"Well, if you feel the need to throw up, aim towards Francine."

I'm almost sure the flight attendant was going to come down the isle to see if everything was ok since all three of us were laughing so much. All through the flight, we kept a constant feed of water into Jodie, working on the principle that if it were going down it wouldn't have time to come up, plus the constant visits to the bathroom kept her mind occupied until the light for all seat belts to be put on flashed.

The sign held by a chauffeur said, 'Mr. McManus and guests'. I told Frankie to go ahead and grab our rental and I would see her later at the hotel. It seemed he wasn't sure what to do when I stood in front of him on my own and asked to be taken to the office. His instructions were that we were all going to the Harper residence. That wasn't going to happen, considering the animosity between Peggy-Sue and I.

The chauffeur phoned ahead and Samantha met me at the door. We walked in silence to Mitchell Harper's office. I wasn't planning to get involved in any real conversation with him until I had Frankie and Jodie with me. I didn't want anything turning into a 'he said she said' finger pointing exercise at a later date.

Mitch and I shook, and we sat away from his desk, Samantha slightly behind her father.

"The conversation I had with Francine said there was a problem with the piece of equipment Sam dropped off, yet she wouldn't get involved in any details."

"I've got Francine and one other employee with me. We need rest because it's been a hell of a long day and I have a report being sent to me that won't get here until later this evening so I would prefer we stuck to our original schedule if you don't mind Mitch."

Even though he looked intently at me, he couldn't figure out what was going on.

"You declined my offer of spending your time with us at the house?"

"Please don't read anything into that, if it was just Francine and I, it would be fine, but I brought someone with me and I wouldn't like to impose. The thin ice I'm on with your good wife would just get thinner."

Samantha blushed and Mitch laughed so much his face went red and he started to cough, I actually thought he was heading for a heart attack.

"She told me when she got back. I had to head out for a round of golf before she saw me laughing. I don't agree with what you did Jack, but Sam said it was necessary so I took her at her word, Peggy-Sue on the other hand, has been sticking needles into effigies of you ever since."

We smiled and Samantha got slightly more flushed. We had coffee and bragged a bit about life before we shook on it and I went down to reception to get a cab back to the hotel. Mitch promised to smooth it over with his wife and told me that tomorrow afternoon was still clear for whatever had brought us all here so suddenly.

Frankie met me at the hotel's reception desk and told me that Samantha had phoned her as soon as I had left, wanting to know what was going on.

"Phone up to Jodie and tell her she has an hour to get ready. We have dinner booked and no, it isn't pizza."

The smile from Frankie said it all and she dashed towards the elevator while I picked my key up and headed for my room. Samantha was sitting on my bed when I came out of the bathroom.

"What's going on Jack? Francine is telling us nothing and you all but shut up shop when my father asked you the same question."

I walked over to the phone and called Frankie. "Yes she's here; ask reception to make it another place at out table... No need, you know she's always immaculately dressed, she doesn't need to.... Ok see you downstairs in ten."

She sat and watched me dress, I had nothing to hide she had seen all of it and some of it has been very intimate with her, I did catch her licking her lips and she flushed when I smiled and guided her out of my room. I was even polite and didn't ask how she had gained access to my room. Frankie and Jodie met us at the elevator and I swear poor Jodie was at a loss for words, well more than usual, anyway.

In desperation, Samantha again turned to Frankie while the elevator descended to the lobby and the restaurants.

"It has something to do with that piece of computer, doesn't it? Jack's not talking, at least tell me something."

I held my breath as Frankie looked towards Samantha. "The weather here is much better than home at the moment, I personally think the boss really wanted to come here so he could top up his tan."

Jodie laughed and I held onto Samantha's arm so she could be at peace with herself and resist the urge to punch Jodie. Oh boy, did I get the looks when I walked in with three women in tow, Samantha finally resigned herself to knowing that she wasn't getting anything out of any of us and reluctantly at first, enjoyed the meal.

It also took Jodie half an hour to notice that both Frankie and Samantha had the same necklace. Then she spent the rest of the evening trying to figure out if this was one of those things she should see and say nothing about. Mrs. Gillins had told her this would happen sometimes, when she told her she was handing her job over to her when she left to get married.

We finally adjourned to the bar for coffee. The girls had ones with funny sounding names that always seem to include alcohol, I just shook my head and decided that society is doing everything it could to destroy coffee in its natural form. Being the purist, I sipped mine as Frankie and Sam talked while Jodie watched and said little.

Once again, Frankie's abilities came to the fore when she stood and announced that she was going to the bathroom.

"Miss Harper. Since tradition means that no woman ever goes to the bathroom to freshen up on there own, would you care to join me?"

Jodie smiled and tried to hide it behind her liquor glass. She watched both stand, nod towards me and walk to the bathroom. Jodie's glass once again rested on the table before she crossed her legs and looked towards me.

"Is this going to be my interview?"

"Why do you say that?"

"You haven't stopped watching me since we got on the plane, not in a perverted sort of way, I know that. You're watching me, assessing me. Mrs. Gillins was your safety net and now that she's getting married, you need to find out for yourself if I can take up the slack."

"You're following someone who started in my company almost the same day I started it. I understand that no two people are the same. You will have strengths and weaknesses just like we all have. I need to know just how strong you really are."

Jodie smiled and sipped her coffee, uncrossed her legs and once again placed her glass back onto the table. Her gaze swept the whole room once before she leaned onto the arm of the chair she was sitting in so she could talk more quietly.

"Strong enough, to see that you are two people in the same body. Strong enough to know that Francine is your niece, and also your slave and now strong enough, to know that Samantha is, as well. I'm strong enough to see that you are committed to every person who works for you, just as I'm strong enough to fight my fear of flying and watch as both you and Francine did everything you could to comfort me the entire journey."

She paused long enough to take another sip of her coffee before continuing.

"Mrs. Gillins phoned me at home while I was packing. When I asked her for advice, she simply said that I was to be myself. If I tried to be anyone else, you would see through me. When that woman pulled me out of the secretary pool and made me her assistant, I was so scared. She is a legend in that building, yet she chose me amongst some who were far more senior than I was."

Jodie watched both Frankie and Samantha walking back across the bar area for a moment and smiled once again.

"When Mrs. Gillins sat me down and told me what she had planned for me, I told her, what I'm about to tell you now. My folks told me that above all else, a person's word has to count for everything. My folks were country folks where a handshake was more binding that any written contract because a person's word had to stand for everything."

With that, she reached across the distance between us, her hand held out. I took it and we shook on it.

"What you have is a younger version of Mrs. Gillins, except with slightly more attitude of course."

We both laughed and as far as we were both concerned, the interview was over. Frankie continued to stand, seemingly waiting for Jodie and they both walked to the elevators. Samantha came and sat next to me.

"She knows?"

"Yes, she spotted your necklaces and since she knew about Frankie, the rest was just watching how you both interacted with each other."

"Do you want me to arrange for her to have an accident?"

We both laughed and I told her that she had no worries. I had met her husband at one of the company picnics. She was as devoted to him as I had ever seen with any married couple twice their age. We both watched the elevator close before I looked once again at Samantha.

"This girl would like to stay the night with your permission."

"Yes of course, as long as your folks know you're here. I know you're a big girl now and you can stay with whomever you wish but its called courtesy, Samantha. The other thing is, I can't have you come down for breakfast. Jodie may have knowledge of my lifestyle, but I refuse to flaunt it in her face."

"This girl phoned mother from the bathroom and she knows I'm with you. My sister agrees with you and I will be gone before breakfast, but this girl could not pass up this opportunity when it arose."

*******

After breakfast, Frankie talked to Reception and got us a small meeting room so we could video conference with Marlon. We had left so fast, we needed to work on some of the information Marlon had gleaned from the circuit board, before he realized what he actually did have in his hands. I asked him to do one more test on it and get back to us with the answer as quickly, but as carefully, as he could.

We then spent the next hour going over what we had before breaking for lunch and then heading over to Harper Industries. Samantha met us at reception and escorted us into a meeting room. I could see through the glass partition of the door that two of their security people took up positions by the door as soon as Samantha locked it. Mitchell Harper came in the far door along with two people I didn't know.

"Ok Jack, this is Clive Marshall, from our technology department and that's Tony Costas from legal. Ladies and Gentlemen please take your seats and let's get to the bottom of what's brought Mr. McManus here so quickly."

I went over what Marlon had found out about one of the circuit boards Samantha had brought with her and the implications of its use as a back door for a hacker. Clive instantly refused to believe it until Frankie pulled out a file, walked over to him and placed it in front of him. We lost Clive while he was reading the file, so we continued.

Mitch and I talked about the length of time it took his company to finally buy the Sanchez group of companies and how much of their technologies had so far been merged with his own. That conversation suddenly peaked Clive's interest once again and he excused himself from the meeting.

It was clear Mitch wanted Clive back in the meeting before we continued so I suggested coffees and Mitch readily agreed. Jodie's cell beeped once while we all talked about random things, waiting for Clive's return. She looked at her cell and then passed it onto to me to read. I nodded and thanked her before she placed her cell back on the table. Clive came back half an hour later, clearly looking like he wanted to be somewhere else and that worried Mitchell Harper.

"I do know something I didn't know when I left home. I had Marlon do a test of the board he has. He was able to work out when the backdoor became active and that was in the later stages of your companies dealings with the Sanchez group. To Marlon's knowledge the backdoor was installed and tested once before it became dormant."