Thrills

by K. T. Tomb

  Will send more soon,

  Courtney

  She logged out of her email and finished her lunch, then sat down on the couch and decided to do some more research on the different products that were available in the industry. More importantly, she was beginning to feel the need to find out how competitive bodybuilding really worked.

  Chapter Three

  Courtney woke up at six p.m.

  She stretched, and for a split second did not remember where she was. Once her eyes had adjusted to the room’s gradually dimming light, she took a sip from the water glass on her birds-eye coffee table, then set it back down on one of the glass panels in the middle of it. Absentmindedly, she ran her hands over her face and eyes and sat up on the couch. A quick glance at her laptop revealed that she had a new email. She clicked on it and opened the email.

  Court,

  Thanks for the update—I really appreciate it. I agree with you—focus on the location where you think most of the activity is coming from and once you can pinpoint a source, look into that core group for anyone who might be experiencing side effects. Find out who uses the product, find out how often, and find out if any of them have been acting abnormally.

  As far as the Tom thing goes, I would just try to circumvent it. Go back to the gym and tell them that even though the reason you were asking about bodybuilding was because your boyfriend had expressed an interest in getting started, it turns out that after sharing what you found out, he decided he isn’t interested in changing his fitness routine or the way he works out. But that you, on the other hand, have become intrigued with it and you want to try getting into competitive bodybuilding.

  That way, the worst case scenario is that you might look a little silly, but I don’t want you having to rely on second-hand information, which in turn becomes third-hand information to me. It puts this whole thing at risk, and I need to know if this product is out there hurting people or making people hurt themselves, so accuracy is incredibly important on this one.

  Spend whatever you need to get memberships or whatever. Keep the receipts so we can reimburse you but just don’t go crazy.

  Thanks again Court,

  Kim

  Courtney re-read the email a couple of times and she thought about Kim’s advice. After a short mental debate, she agreed and decided to take Kim’s face forward approach, knowing it would buy her all the right opportunities to get the investigation moving again. She would call back Green’s Fit Factory and sign up for a membership. There was something about the matter-of-fact way ‘Hard-sell Matt’ had answered her questions about the bodybuilding program at Green’s that had irked her. Nonchalant… that was the word she was looking for. He clearly thought highly of the expertise they had available to clients in that area and he’d confirmed they were recommending PTX to lifters there.

  She finished the glass of water and looked over her notes one more time. Even though she’d felt like she hadn’t really done much that morning, Courtney suddenly realized how tired she was even having just woken up from a three-hour nap. She decided she would go to bed early and first thing in the morning she would call Green’s Fit Factory. She went upstairs and climbed into bed, not even bothering to change.

  At six a.m. the next morning, Courtney woke up, showered and dressed, then went downstairs.

  Eggs and bacon for me today!

  She poured herself a glass of orange juice and quickly opened her email browser to let Kim know her plan for the day.

  Can’t hurt to let her know what the plan is. Who knows how deep this whole thing goes anyway. At least if Kim knows who I’m meeting and where I’m going, I won’t end up on a milk carton.

  She cracked two eggs into her pan, then cut a strip of bacon in two and fried that as well. Once she was done eating, she pulled out her phone and dialed the number for Green’s.

  “Hi, Green’s Fit Factory, how can we help you today?” the voice on the end of the phone responded.

  “Yeah, hi. My name is Courtney and I was in yesterday? Ummm, I want to come in and get signed up for a membership there,” she told the customer service representative on the phone.

  “Oh, great! That’s great. We’re so happy to hear that you will be joining us. Did you want to come in today and get signed up? And just so you know, when you sign up you get a free consultation with one of our trainers. They’ll take some measurements, find out what your goals are and why you want to get Green Fit. They’ll also put together a workout program for you for free as well. What time do you want to come in today?” the representative asked.

  “Well, how soon do your trainers have availability? When could I come in?” Courtney asked.

  “Well, let me just check… we have openings now if you want to come in—and we may have openings later on so if you want to come in later today… It looks like we have an… eleven-thirty. We also have a one o’clock and a four p.m. What sounds good to you?” the desk operator asked.

  “Well, I would really like to meet with a bodybuilding coach… I kind of lied when I was in yesterday… I told Matt that my boyfriend was interested in bodybuilding but the truth is that… it’s me… I want to get into bodybuilding,” Courtney said. “Is there anyone there that could help me get started with that? When are they available? Matt hinted that you have a pretty well-developed program over there when we spoke,” she said.

  “You’re quite right about that. Let me see… looks like the eleven-thirty is when Yago will be here and that’s definitely who you’ll be wanting to talk to about that,” the voice on the phone said.

  “Yago?” Courtney asked. “Who is Yago?”

  “Yago is… he’s incredible. He’s an ex-Olympian weightlifter and wrestler. He came to us not too long ago from the U.S.S.R. Or Russia? Whatever it is they call themselves these days. He actually defected after the U.S. team poached him a few years back. Been training amateurs and competing on the U.S. circuit ever since. He can’t go back there—they probably blame his defection for their lack of a gold medal win in the 2012 games,” the customer service representative said.

  “Wow, it’s pretty lucky for you guys to have him as a trainer there, huh?” Courtney asked.

  “Oh yeah. Anyone in the area serious about competitive bodybuilding works with Yago. He’s the best around. He’s even had a few clients win their first amateur competitions. He’s really well known around here, and he’s awesome with putting together the perfect program for his clients,” the rep said.

  “That sounds really awesome. Let’s get right on that! I’ll be in to meet with Yago at eleven thirty,” Courtney said.

  “Sounds good. I’m putting you down for the appointment right now, and I guess we’ll see you later this morning,” the receptionist said.

  A couple of hours later, Courtney pulled into the parking lot outside Green’s for the second time in two days. She walked up to the front desk and introduced herself again. This time to Kelly, a curvy brunette that did not have an ounce of fat on her body. Courtney, once again, felt a little jealous and a little overwhelmed. She wanted to look that good. She had never been self-conscious before and, for the life of her, she couldn’t understand why she was feeling that way now. It wasn’t like she was in terrible shape.

  After a couple of minutes of continued jealous admiration, Yago came out to meet her. She was immediately impressed. He was tall—almost six-foot-five if she had to guess, and he was ripped. His coloring reminded her of ice—white-blonde hair and icy, blue-gray eyes that made her think of frozen sea spray. Not that she had ever seen a frozen sea spray but if she had, she imagined it would have similar colors. He was massively built as well. His chest and back were huge and his midsection matched. She couldn’t help but think he was about the size of a small outbuilding on a Midwestern farm.

  He’s just in a polo and khaki shorts. Why… how… is it possible that I can literally see every single one of his muscles? I wonder how guys like him even find clothes to wear. It’s pretty crazy. I feel like the seams of t
hat shirt are hanging on for dear life. Just one careless flex of a muscle could rip it right off. And I certainly would not mind at all.

  “Good morning, my name Is Yago. What is your name?” Yago said to Courtney in a heavy accent.

  She loved his thick Russian accent. He had a very deep voice which matched his impressive physique perfectly. She felt strangely afraid of the man, his deep, clear voice and his huge, well-muscled body but at the same time, was also extremely attracted to him.

  “My name is Courtney,” she replied.

  “Courtney, it’s very nice to be meeting you,” he said. “What would you like to be doing? In the gym, I mean,” Yago asked.

  “Well, I would really like to start competitive bodybuilding. I want to get in shape, get my physique to where it needs to be, and then I want to start competing,” she said.

  “Ah, yes. It’s very good that you are coming to see me then. I will have you winning competitions in no time,” Yago said.

  “Awesome,” Courtney replied. “I can’t wait! Should we get started right now?”

  “Yes,” Yago replied in his thick accent. “We really should. We have much work to do, so we should get started right now,” he finished.

  “Okay, then,” she replied. “Let’s get started.”

  The first thing Yago did was take Courtney’s essential measurements—the circumference of her waist, width of her shoulders, her arms at her biceps and at her forearms. She almost shivered from the top of her head down through the soles of her feet when Yago measured her quads. She could feel the calluses on his hands from years and years of lifting weights and she had to mentally control herself to not shake with desire when he wrapped his arms and his hands around her legs. He also took measurements of her calves.

  “Now that I know what we’re working with, let’s go get started on planning a workout,” Yago said. “I want to get a baseline idea for how much you can lift. So we’re just going to do a couple of exercises. We’re going to do three sets of bench press and we’re going to do three sets of squat and that should give me a pretty good idea of where to start you on your lifting regimen.”

  “Oh,” Courtney said. “I’m not really sure that… umm… that I can even lift anything in those exercises.”

  “I’m sure that you can. I will be there to spot you if you need it and the first part of your program will be building bulk anyway, so I need to know where you’re at and make sure that you’re lifting heavy. The basic premise of bodybuilding is to build mass by lifting heavy as you build up to a competition. Then, two to three weeks before your competition, you cut weight and you cut fat. We do that by changing your diet, and that really helps with muscle definition and we also change up your workout routine and then the last couple days you rest. Sound good?” Yago asked her.

  “Yeah, that’s pretty much my understanding as well,” she replied.

  “Okay, perfect. I am glad that you and I are on the same page,” he told her.

  Her workout was extremely tough—she was never much for weight training. She knew she was going to be sore and yet, she felt accomplished. After the workout, she sat down with Yago in his office and they went over her workout regimen. She couldn’t believe the amount of time she was going to have to put in with the trainer in order to get into competition shape. It was going to be anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half per day but, the way Courtney figured it, she wasn’t doing anything else with her time at this point.

  The truth of the matter was she’d just signed up for six months of gym membership at a whopping nine hundred bucks, all on BoostTech’s dime, of course, and even though she would be done with her investigation long before that time was up, she’d have a rock solid body for sure at the end of it all. Win, win!

  She was especially surprised when Yago asked her how she would feel about taking supplements. She had told him that she would do whatever it took to get into shape and Yago immediately handed her a bottle of ProTenX Thermo. Courtney turned the bottle over in her hands as Yago went on talking and giving her informational pamphlets and magazines to read.

  “Do you give this to all of your clients?” she asked.

  “Yes, of course. It’s the very best product out there,” he told her, with a slightly confused look on his face.

  “Is there anyone I can talk to about side effects or anything like that?” she asked. “I just want to be educated on what’s going into my body,” she said.

  Yago nodded, then replied in his heavily accented English, “When you come to train with me, there will be other people in my program there sometimes. You can talk to them whenever you like about this kind of stuff. I can’t give you their information because of privacy, but you should feel free to ask them about anything you like when you meet them. You will find that us bodybuilders, we only look intimidating. In fact, we are all very big on camaraderie. When you get home, make sure you take the first dose right away so that your body can start loading the supplement. It shouldn’t take too long, but you might still be sore tomorrow. In time, the supplement will also help with muscle recovery so you have less and less of the soreness after workouts.”

  “Okay, I can definitely do that. And thank you for letting me know about the other clients,” she had responded.

  A broad smile spread across her face as she stood and shook the man’s hand. She closed the door behind her and walked out of the building and toward her car, knowing she was definitely in the right place. If there was really anything for Kim and BoostTech to be worried about, as far as PTX was concerned, she would see it firsthand right at Green’s.

  She got home around twelve-thirty and went straight upstairs to shower. When she was dressed, she made herself another salad and tossed in half a can of chunk tuna. Yago had stressed the importance of nutrition. With fork in hand, she opened up her email and contacted Kim a second time for the day.

  Kim,

  Today went really well. I met with a guy at Green’s called Yago. He’s a really well-known bodybuilding coach in the area. Can you maybe get me some background information on him? I want to know how his career was in Russia. Why is he here in the U.S. now?

  I’m definitely in the right place because he immediately gave me a bottle of your product. I am going to start using it. I’m afraid that if I don’t, he’ll figure out I’m not being genuine with him. I know there’s nothing wrong with it, and that it’s perfectly legal, I’m just thinking that if I’m going to really get to the bottom of what’s going on I’d be better off jumping on the wagon and seeing where it takes me. I would hate to blow my cover this early in the game.

  Did you test this on women at all? What should I expect?

  I’m also going to start working out with the lifting group. Hopefully, that will lead me further so that I can get the full scoop on what’s going on.

  Thanks again,

  Court

  She signed out and decided she would spend the rest of her time cleaning up around the house. She finished that, made some dinner and then she went to bed.

  Chapter Four

  When Courtney woke up in the morning, she was sore all over her body. She couldn’t believe that she was in such poor shape that three sets of bench presses and three sets of squats could leave her feeling so strained. What was more surprising, though, was that it felt good to her.

  After she made breakfast and ate, she checked her email. Kim had gotten back to her.

  Court,

  I’ve got people looking into Yago. It looks like—preliminarily, at least—that he fled to the United States because he was being recruited to the SVR—Russia’s version of our CIA. Turns out he was stuck between a rock and a hard place. We’re not sure how they were leveraging him, but we know it wasn’t due to family because they’re not in Russia. They fled to France, but he stayed to compete for Russia in the Olympic Games. Then he defected to the U.S. team as soon as he arrived in London.

  There were women in some of our test groups. They responded better than the men,
but watch it because those that didn’t follow the dosage had testosterone-related side effects—most commonly the growth of facial hair! So keep that in mind and stick to the dosage exactly.

  Good luck with the training group. I hope it gives you the insight we’re looking for.

  Also, your next check was deposited to your account today. It should be in the bank this morning.

  Thanks again,

  Kim

  Courtney sent back a quick reply thanking her for the payment and letting her know that she would send an email once she met with the workout group. She attached a picture of the receipt from Green’s Gym and hit send. A few minutes later, her phone beeped. The text message from her online banking service confirmed two deposits: a check for five thousand dollars and the second, an electronic transfer for nine hundred.

  Dang, Kim! she thought. I should probably look into doing this for development labs all over the country; they are loaded. And it seems like when they have problems they’re both single-minded and generous. The perfect employer to have.

  She had time to kill before her next session, so she spent the time typing up all the notes she’d made to that point. As an extra precaution, she password-protected the files and uploaded them to her secure cloud as well. She wasn’t afraid anyone would try to steal her notes but she did feel like they were too important to not keep under wraps. Thirty minutes before her workout session, she took her next dose of ProTenX Thermo and then she left for the gym.

  Courtney parked and headed inside. She could feel the supplement working already. Her body felt warmer than usual, and she could feel a definite pump of blood in her veins. She put her things away in the locker area and headed to the free weights section, where there was an area roped off for Yago’s group.