Covert Interview

by Missy Marciassa

  “Yes- yes I do.” Elle shut the door to her office. She wanted to catch Janet as soon as she came in at nine. She let herself fall into her chair. “The problem with the model and the algorithm can’t be fixed,” she pronounced.

  “Can’t be fixed,” he repeated.

  “I looked over all of the transactions the algorithm didn’t catch,” she explained, “and when I added additional variables in, it was too broad. That’s because they’re too random. These are different people- or at least they’re using different logins- and different computers and different types of information. It’s too random. I ran the data through a random generator-”

  “Random generator?”

  “Yes. There are programs to check how close to random data can be. Nothing is truly random- at least, no known data set is truly random- but you can come close. This is closer to random than systematic, which is rare but theoretically possible.” Just about everything that occurred in nature had some sort of systematic element to it: it just wasn’t always possible to discern what the system was.

  “So our targets are changing things up enough- their login, the computers they use, even the business contacts- so that they aren’t systematic. It can’t be tracked.”

  “Exactly.” She wanted to pump her fist in the air. How many people could spot randomness? Most would spend months trying to figure that out.

  “So we need to get eyes on the targets.” Mason seemed to be thinking out loud. “Thank you, Ms. Paquet. I’ll be in touch. The next time we speak, it will probably be to have your ninety day review.”

  Ninety day review. Oh boy.

  “Oh, I’ve been meaning to ask: have you spoken to your father lately?”

  Was Mason trying to sound casual?

  “No,” Elle replied, speaking slowly as she considered what his curiosity meant. “No, I haven’t. Why?” Could she ask outright if her father was a target? Would he tell her? Mason had told her he wasn’t one…

  “Just making sure he didn’t ask anything about France- you being on his computer, that sort of thing. I’ll be in touch.” With that, Mason disconnected.

  Didn’t that just figure? She did something well, and he questioned something else she’d done. Something she wasn’t even formally trained to do. Talk about hard to please. She needed to hold off on the air pumping.

  Luckily, Elle had better news for Janet. “I think I know what’s wrong,” she announced as she knocked on her supervisor’s open door.

  Janet’s eyes widened in excitement. “I’m dying to hear it.”

  “The algorithm can’t distinguish between users.” She sat down in the seat across from Janet’s desk as Janet’s brow wrinkled in confusion. “They’re using the program here in the library, right?”

  Janet nodded.

  “And they don’t need user names for these computers.”

  “The library computers are open to the public to make them more accessible.”

  “But it also means it’s impossible to track individual users, which makes it impossible to yield more personalized results.” Elle could tell her words were as clear as mud to Janet, so she elaborated. “Think about when you shop online. You have user names or account names, right? That’s so the site can identify you.”

  Janet’s face lit up with understanding.

  “The users of this program need to use their user names.”

  “When can you have the modifications ready?”

  “By lunchtime.”

  “Eleanor Paquet, you are a genius!” Janet squealed. At least someone appreciated her at work.

  Chapter Twenty

  Although Elle was sad to leave Marni in Charlottesville, she was lucky she didn’t get a speeding ticket driving back to Norfolk. She waited until after rush hour subsided and then took off Friday evening. It actually worked out: she was able to go out to dinner with Marni and her law school friends. From what they said, the workload had started off pretty intense.

  “Who’s glad to still be in school now?” Elle teased Marni as she was getting ready to leave.

  Marni threw a pillow at her. “You suck,” she said without heat.

  Elle laughed. “I’ll see you in a couple of weeks,” she said. “Study hard.”

  “Jump Lyle’s bones,” Marni replied with a wink.

  She was pretty sure another shopping trip was in order before her date with Lyle on Saturday. She had had the foresight to schedule a hair appointment for the next morning. The keratin was doing its job and keeping her locks from frizzing, but she could still benefit from a good blowout. And she needed to clean her place, just in case Lyle came by afterwards. They were going to a movie and dinner. After that… well, she wanted to be prepared for any promising game he proposed.

  Lyle had insisted on picking her up, saying a true gentleman saw his date safely from and to her front door, and he arrived at her apartment right on time. Elle was ready with a short deep green miniskirt and a lightweight silk knit peach tank top. She had worried the skirt was maybe too short until the sales lady asked, “You did say this was a date?”

  “You look lovely,” he told her, taking her in from head to toe. He seemed to appreciate her tanned legs.

  “Like my play clothes?” Elle forced herself to do a twirl for him. She had noticed in the three way mirror that the skirt hugged her butt perfectly.

  The smolder in his eye suggested he had noticed, too. “Very much.”

  Elle copied one of Marni’s looks, gazing up at him through her eye lashes. “I had to be ready to play.”

  Lyle took her arm and pulled her close. “I’ll appropriate your saying: ‘Bring It.’”

  Although their phone conversations had gone well, Elle had still worried it might be awkward once they were face-to-face. She was wrong as they chatted about their careers over dinner.

  “I realized before I even graduated law school that I needed to escape the golden handcuffs of the corporate world and working in some DA’s office would leave me destitute.” Did he nudge her foot with his? Elle wasn’t sure if it was a mistake or not. “By joining JAG, I got to get myself in shape after three years of studying with the Navy training, and then got to take on a variety of interesting cases. Spending a lot of time in court.”

  “I’d imagine the JAG Corp keeps you busy. How do you even find time to play?”

  “I make the time,” he assured her. The twinkle in his eye told her he meant what he said. Did he realize he was now rubbing up against her calf? Maybe he thought he was touching a table leg or something. If she moved, and let on that it was her leg he was rubbing against, would she embarrass him?

  Suddenly she felt the urge to move, even if it was just to shift a little. She needed to get a grip. “I was thinking back on our talk about play and civility,” she said, feeling her heart start to beat a little harder. She was still nervous, but it was a good kind of nervous: the nervousness that came from anticipation rather than fear. She was ready to start playing a little more. “And I have to say, I’m trying to figure out the balance between civility and play.”

  Lyle gave her another one of those slow grins that she was coming to realize meant he was more than ready to play, too, as he reached under the table and grasped her just above the knee, giving her thigh a light squeeze. He knew what he was doing.

  “I’ll let you in on a little secret,” he said as he leaned in a little closer, drawing her closer in response. “It’s not really about the civility. It’s about getting the most… pleasure out of things.” His voice deepened as he lowered it, and the warmth of his breath on her ear set off tingles throughout her.

  Elle breathed deep as she felt herself grow warm, aware that her breasts heaved when she did so and aware that he saw them heave, which wasn’t necessarily the worst thing in the world. “Hmmm…” She struggled to think of something to say to keep up. “Up north, many people don’t equate civility with pleasure.”

  Lyle stayed close, his foot stroking a little higher up her calf. “Au contraire.” H
is southern twang thickened as he spoke in French. “One does not necessarily… require the other, nor are they mutually exclusive.”

  Elle drained her wine glass, which seemed to please him. She stretched out a foot and stroked his calf back. “Something tells me you have a lot to teach.”

  Lyle captured her foot between his calves. “Something tells me we’re going to have a lot of fun with your education.”

  Elle had never enjoyed- well, never played- a game of footsie in her life. But throughout dinner, playing it with Lyle left her caught between laughing and breathless. After dinner they went to a jazz bar across the street. Lyle told her he was an only child, and his father had died when he was in law school. His mother lived in Norfolk.

  “It’s one of the reasons I came back,” he explained. “I wanted to be a little closer. Turns out it didn’t matter: my mother is a true steel magnolia. She made my father’s real estate business even more successful after he was gone and had the foresight to sell it before the bubble burst on the housing market. Now she’s enjoying her gardening and her ‘gentlemen callers.’”

  “I’m sure she still appreciates having her son close, especially since you’re her only child.” Unlike her own mother.

  “How do your parents feel about their baby girl migrating to the south?” Lyle asked.

  Talk about a buzz kill.

  “Maybe the south wasn’t far enough away?” He looked almost apologetic as he put his hand over hers, giving her a gentle squeeze that was in sympathy this time.

  Elle forced a laugh. She was not going to let talk of her family ruin her evening. “I came here for the exciting job opportunity, not to escape my parents.”

  When he looked puzzled, she reminded him, “I work for the Library of Congress. My work here in Norfolk is just one aspect of my job.”

  Lyle relaxed, and she continued talking. “My parents divorced when I was young. They both remarried and now have their hands full with their second families.”

  He winced. “So much for ‘blended families,’ huh?”

  “Oh, it wasn’t bad.” Elle drank some more of her rum and Diet Coke. She had felt ready for the hard liquor after dinner. “I went to boarding school, so I didn’t have to deal with a lot of drama.” When he looked unconvinced, she added, “I just saw my father when I went on a trip to the South of France a couple of weeks ago.” No need to discuss the details of that visit- or the fact that she had only seen her father, not his wife or her younger half-brother and half-sister.

  “South of France, huh?” Lyle looked impressed. “The Library of Congress is sending you on some great trips.” And with that, the talk of families was over. Elle hid her relief.

  After they arrived back at Elle’s apartment, Lyle walked her to her apartment. He slid an arm around her waist, pulling her close, before lifting her up, just enough so her feet hung in the air, and gave her a little twirl before setting her down right in front of her door. Elle couldn’t help but giggle again. She hadn’t been picked up like that since she was a very little girl.

  “I like playing with you,” she said as he pulled her close.

  “Likewise.” He leaned down to give her a kiss.

  When he pulled back, Elle was breathless. She fumbled for her key, which he took out of her hand and unlocked her door while still holding her against him. She could feel her pulse pounding as they entered her apartment. She was glad she had cleaned up.

  “I have white wine and red wine,” she said (thanks to a quick stop at a wine store after her shopping trip that afternoon). “Would you like a glass?”

  “How about red?” Lyle gazed around her apartment, which was still pretty bare, although she had unpacked. “Do you have a music collection?”

  Elle was in the kitchen, which was separated from the living room simply by a counter, so they could see each other. “Uh, I have songs stored on my digital player.”

  Lyle looked horrified. “That’s it? You just listen to music on those tinny little music players?”

  Elle laughed as she poured the wine. She had also picked up a set of four glasses and had thought to run them through the dishwasher earlier. “I’m not much of a music lover,” she admitted.

  She brought the two glasses of wine around. “Are you into music?”

  “I collect vinyl records. One of the things I loved most about Philly- they had some old school record stores up there. You can only find them here in antique shops.”

  Elle made a face of mock horror. “That’s where they belong. Everything is digital. But I do have a player.” She nodded to a player where her digital music player was attached to some larger speakers.

  “I see we have a lot of educating to do,” he said as he scrolled through her music list. She had a list of slow songs, which he selected to start playing.

  Elle settled down on her futon, taking a sip of her wine. She felt her heart rate speeding up as he settled down beside her on the couch, drinking some wine himself.

  “My whole profession is based on digitization,” she admitted with a laugh. She swallowed far more of her wine than she intended, nearly draining her glass. Well, at least it would help her relax.

  Lyle put an arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer to him. “All work and no play…” He shook his head as one hand slid down. He scratched her in a ticklish spot. Elle couldn’t stop herself from giggling even as she wiggled. He laughed at the sound of her giggle. “Haven’t I taught you anything yet?”

  He set his glass down on the table and took hers away as well and got to work, tickling her to the point where she was stretched out on the futon, with him above her.

  “I want to tell you to stop,” Elle managed between laughs, “but… but this is too fun.”

  Lyle tickled her some more. “That’s what I like to hear,” he said before stealing the quickest of kisses. “Learning should be fun.” He kissed her again, this time for just a little longer, as his fingers kept roaming, reigniting all the ticklish spots he had discovered.

  Between the giggling and the wine, she felt lightheaded as a warm buzz spread through her. The weight of him on top of her was nice. “So this-” she managed as he gave her an even deeper kiss, “is foreplay?”

  He kissed her again. His fingers weren’t roaming now so much as stroking, causing her body to heat up even further. “I knew you’d be a quick study.” With the next kiss, his tongue surged into her mouth as his hands slid under her shirt. The warmth of his hands against her bare skin made her body heat up even more. Elle arched into his touch which made her press up into him even more. He didn’t have any trouble unhooking her bra as his lips kissed a trail down her throat. She let her head fall back to allow him better access. He pressed one knee between her legs, parting them, as he pushed her top up higher. As his mouth moved lower, to her breast, she felt one hand slide up under her skirt.

  “Should we move this lesson…?” Elle hoped- really hoped- she wasn’t being too forward. She wanted him in her bed. Now.

  “You catch on fast,” Lyle murmured. He pushed himself up off the futon, grasped her hand, and helped her to her feet. He didn’t let go of her as they walked across the apartment, still causing her breath to hitch as his hands kept roaming. When they got into her bedroom, he wasted no time pulling her shirt up over her head and then sliding her unhooked bra off. She pushed his shirt up too before unbuckling his belt. She fumbled with it but was able to get it open.

  It didn’t take long before Lyle was tumbling her back onto the bed. He was right on top of her. The heat from his body urged her to rub up against him.

  “You’re not just a quick study: you’re naturally talented,” he breathed.

  Elle couldn’t even think of a response before he had her arching her back again as his mouth got to work. It was like all the places where he tickled her heated up beyond the point of causing her to giggle. Before she knew it, she was awash in sensation as he stroked and kissed her all over. The warmth of his body, the fading coolness of the sheets we
re the only things she was aware of beside him as he kissed his way down her torso. His hands were gentle but firm as they pushed her thighs apart. When he lowered his head and let his tongue get to work, she would have bucked except his hands continued to hold her down. She heard herself moan, not caring how she sounded, and before she knew it, she was crying out as she squeezed the sheets in her hands.

  Lyle kissed his way back up before pressing his lips to hers again, his tongue surging deep as he entered her. They fell into an immediate rhythm, almost like they were dancing, as she rose to meet him. And when she squeezed him tight while he was deep inside her, he moaned into her hair. “You don’t need to learn as much as you think,” he groaned before he started moving faster.

  Elle felt her own body tightening again and couldn’t believe it when they both cried out together. She’d always heard that simultaneous orgasms didn’t happen. Maybe it meant they were on the same page. She didn’t have much time to think about it as he collapsed on top of her. After a few gulping breaths, Lyle rolled onto his back.

  “You’re an amazing teacher,” Elle breathed after they had caught their breaths.

  Lyle grinned at her. “It’s easy when you have a gifted student.” He shifted to his side and gave her a deep kiss before sitting up.

  Elle realized he was wearing a condom. That was a good thing- she hadn’t even thought about protection, which, she realized, was an idiotic mistake. “When did you put that on?”

  Lyle winked. “I’ve still got a few tricks up my sleeve.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “Somebody had a good weekend.” Betsy’s grin made Elle blush. “I take it you’re spending more time with Lyle?”

  Elle laughed. “Is it that obvious?”

  Betsy laughed with her, which was enough of an answer.

  “We spent most of the weekend together,” Elle admitted. Lyle had spent the night Saturday night, and they had hung out together all day Sunday. He ended up spending the night again after extensive “playing,” only leaving early Monday morning to return home for his navy uniform for work.