Sunday dawned clear and perfect. By ten, Bren headed out and the kids hit the pool. Luckily Joanie and John headed out, so there was no chance of slipping up. Donna came by and helped Rob referee. She was in a two-piece that made it hard to believe she was a mother and ten or so years older than Aim. He bet Joanie’s camera followed her every move.
During the noon-time siesta, enforced as usual, they chatted.
“Rob, how do you do this? I’m exhausted.”
“This isn’t tiring; it’s fun. The kids are great, once they understand the rules. And best of all, I can send them home.”
“We all ought to pay you for this, as often as you do it. Half the neighborhood kids come through here and it doesn’t faze you one bit. Most of the kids think of you as a summer-time Santa. What’s your secret?”
“That’s easy. I love it! Besides, the prettiest ladies in the neighborhood come by to spend a sunny day with me.”
She laughed and struck a model pose. “So do you like what you see?”
Rob took the opportunity for a long look. “I would be dead not to appreciate you.”
She fell back on the lounge, still laughing. “That’s why all the ladies like you. You look, appreciate, without being gross or stupid. Some of the husbands around here still act like schoolboys.”
“I bet you know that more than anyone.”
“Maybe. I do think I’ve heard variations on that ‘My wife doesn’t understand me’ line more than I can count and quite a few, ‘My husband doesn’t understand me’ too, especially after I divorced Frank.”
“Oh, I do remember the Rumor Central over that one. I was floored by some of the comments.”
“Yes, for a while I thought they were talking about me more than you and Amy.”
“I thought that one finally died. After all these months, people are still wagging their tongues?”
Donna looked pensive. “You know, it did die down for a while, but it popped back up again recently. Anything I can say to help you handle the rumors?”
“Yea, right, Donna. You say anything in my defense and the rumor mill would go to work on you and me instead.”
“You’re right. Sometimes I think this place is like a Peyton Place.”
“No, it isn’t like Peyton Place. I think some folks spread rumors because they are bored and wish this place was like a Peyton Place.”
“Maybe you’re right. Well anyway, if you want to liven up Rumor Central, let me know. It might be fun. Too bad you’re so married, and honest, or we could really give them something to talk about,” she said smiling.
‘My oversexed imagination had to be kidding me; did Donna just make a backhanded pass at me?’ Rob thought. ‘No way, I think I’ll file that one under surprising compliments.’ Rob thought about the earlier conversation about Joanie and wondered if Donna was involved in any way. He couldn’t seem to picture Donna as any kind of victim or even a willing participant.
The kids started getting antsy, so he put the oldest one in charge and told them no one in the water until they got back. He took Donna into the kitchen. She wasn’t sure what he was up to as he rummaged through a drawer and found a prize, a handful of small balloons, perfect for water grenades.
Donna smiled a wide smile and started filling some up while he went into the downstairs bathroom to arm himself.
When he got back, she had her back to him. When she turned around, Rob almost lost it.
Donna wiggled her chest; the water balloons she added to her bust looked great. “Now I’m stacked like Brenda!” She was laughing so hard that one fell out and he was graced with a glimpse of the perfect A-cup breast. Even well past thirty, she could give any model a run for their money. She looked embarrassed, not at the glimpse, but at the water balloon hitting the kitchen floor.
Tossing a towel on it, “We’ll get to this later; the natives are restless. But I do suggest using a bowl.”
She laughed. “Or Brenda’s bathing suit; it would hold more ammo than mine.”
They snuck out through the garage and lofted several grenades which caught the kids off guard. Screaming kids, diving for the pool and splashing at them made the afternoon great. Once they settled back down, Rob washed the chlorinated water off the bushes from their splashing and went into the kitchen for a drink, finding Donna on her hands and knees wiping up the water from her ‘accident’. Her ass was aimed right at him. You might think that between Bren, Aim, and Tracy his conscious-less prick wouldn’t respond, but damn, she had a wonderful ass, very firm, and tight! Not nearly the soft handfuls of Brenda, but firmer looking than Aim’s. For a second he stood there, feeling weirdly guilty, shutting the door. Donna didn’t move. She knew he was there the whole time.
“I wish I could see your face right now, Rob.”
“It’s not my face I don’t want you to see.”
She turned suddenly, and he got the kitchen island between them.
“Aw, not even a peek?”
“Like hell.”
“Tell you what, you show me yours, and I’ll show you mine.” She tugged her strap and started laughing. “Oh, Rob, you are priceless.”
A voice from outside: Joanie.
“Oh shit, the bitch. Watch your ass around her, Rob.”
Joanie came in the back door. “What, no lifeguards?”
“We’re just cleaning up from the water balloon fight. Do me a favor; take a turn with the kids while we get this water up?”
“Sure thing; my two are in the crowd as well. Can you bring me a drink when you’re done?”
“Of course, iced tea?”
She nodded and went back outside. Rob looked at Donna and she held her finger to her lips.
Joanie took several extra seconds to walk across the deck, like she paused to overhear anything. Rob got down next to Donna to wipe up the floor.
“You care to explain what just happened?”
Donna grinned. “You got a hard-on from staring at my ass. You don’t know how that happened. Okay, there are these birds and these bees…”
He cracked up. “No, that I figured out. I wouldn’t mind a why?”
“Just messing with you, Rob, it’s nice to know I can turn someone on who is worth turning on. Lately, all I seem to attract are losers.”
Apparently, even someone like Donna, the former model, could have self-esteem issues.
“No, the second, what’s up with you and Joanie?”
“Nothing absolute, other than I think she’s a bitch, and I wouldn’t trust her as far as I can throw her.”
“I got that; now why?”
“Too long a story for right now; if you really want to hear it, call me later, okay?”
“Well, you’ve peaked my curiosity meter. Okay, tonight, about seven.”
“Perfect.”
They rejoined the throng of screaming kids, Donna sure left him with lots to think about.
The kids started heading home about three. Joanie took hers, and then Donna left with her brood and things settled. Rob parked Callie and Mike in front of the TV and started dinner. Aim called to talk to the kids, who were nearly asleep after the day they had. She also told Rob they would be home tomorrow night and he gave her a run-down on Cyd and also Donna.
“Boy, you miss me so much that you are sniffing around the high-class talent,” she said laughing.
“You are pretty high-class yourself, but you know Donna – any chance to jerk on someone’s chain.”
“Maybe, but I don’t ever remember seeing Donna play like that. Watch yourself; she might be after you. She still may be connected with Joanie somehow, so don’t invite her into our little conspiracy.
“Seriously, what do we know about Donna? She was a former professional model, at least locally. You can still spot many of her commercials. She took her beauty and brains and opened her own PR firm. Frank was a real idiot, especially if he had a few drinks,” said Amy.
Rob added, “Her kids are great, among the best behaved in the area, and she loves them; it’s obvious. If she did set Frank up for the fall, I can’t blame her. He was a shitty person who would try and drink all your beer, feel up your wife and act surprised if anyone objected. Ever since she kicked him out, she’s spent many a weekend afternoon by our pool, but always with her kids. She was a pleasant person, when not dealing with errant husbands,” Rob concluded.
“Okay, enough for now; you two have fun and we’ll see you tomorrow night,” Rob said as Amy signed off.
Bren came home; she said she got a lot done and had a nice lunch with Tracy. Tracy managed to steal away a whole hour, so they grabbed some salads from a supermarket salad bar and sat in the park talking.
“She’s special, Rob. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone quite like her. She shoots from the hip, not out of any design; it’s like she was programmed that way, genetically. Smart as hell. I see her owning her own chain of pharmacies someday. And she is so uninhibited it’s uncanny.”
“So I guess you like her?”
“She’s great! Amy has incredible people instincts.”
“Then why didn’t we see Joanie coming from a mile away?”
“That one, I have been thinking about and the more I ponder it, the stranger it gets. The best I can figure is that she didn’t originally play any games around home, but something changed and she started. By that time we thought we knew her and John well and as long as nothing slapped us in the face, like her blackmailing Dave, we didn’t notice it. Remember how long it took us to recognize how out of control Sylvia had gotten.”
“You might be right. The ‘security’ lights didn’t go up until about three years ago. I wonder how long their websites have been in operation?”
“Drop Cyd an e-mail; maybe she could find out. Oh, wait; if she’s going to be here tomorrow, she may be in the air now. Too bad she can’t stay with us.”
“Not this trip, and Amy and Dave will be home tomorrow night. Cyd doesn’t need to get that involved. Besides, if we get busted, it might hurt her if we aren’t careful.”
“Protecting Cyd, protecting Tracy…you are a real white knight, did you know that?” She offered him a chaste kiss and then went to check on the kids.
After dinner, Rob called Donna.
“Hi, Rob; curiosity got the better of you, huh?”
“Donna, when you drop a bomb like that, you know there will always be interest.”
“More interested in the Joanie dirt than my buns. I get you now.”
“Donna, dear?”
“Yes?”
“You are on speaker and Brenda is not laughing.”
“Oh shit, you bastard! Hi, Brenda. I was just giving him a hard time about the buns crack.”
Brenda might not have been laughing, but she was smiling. “Sure, Donna, that’s what they call it: giving a ‘hard’ time?”
“Jeez, you two are impossible. Okay, on the subject of Joanie. I think she’s a bitch who was fucking around with Frank, and from Frank, I learned also a few other people in the Platte. The asshole wouldn’t tell me who, but he said she was into control games and Sylvia was her personal slut,” Donna explained.
Rob commented, “That kinda makes sense. Sylvia was really getting out of control, even before you dumped Frank.”
Donna continued, “I didn’t believe him at first until I got a nice pair of binoculars and watched some of the action in the wooded area behind your guy’s house; you know, the wooded section you all back up to. You wouldn’t believe who was involved. I told Frank he was full of shit and to be honest, I set him up. The next time I saw him over there, I invited a friend over and we busted him with Sylvia. Joanie wasn’t there, but it was weird; she commented on something to me later and nearly described it word for word. I know dam well Frank didn’t tell it; he wouldn’t have remembered half those words.
“The bitch tried to convince me that she could wreck Frank’s and my life from some of Frank’s bad-boy action. I called her bluff and kicked the bastard to the curb before she could hurt me. I think she has something on Frank at his worst, maybe pictures or video, and she wanted something from me. I can treat her like she’s human, but I wouldn’t fucking trust the bitch if you paid me to do so. There; is that enough for you to think about?”
Bren and Rob looked at each other. “Something certainly stinks to high heaven, but why tell us?”
“Rob, you and Brenda are the best. And I would hate for her to find a way to hurt you. She’s been spreading the rumors about you and Amy. The rumor mill had died down and started back up. ‘Somebody’ is spreading it that she likes to get naked by your pool, flashing her chest at passing boys.”
“Hell, is that all? What about the rumor of Amy and Brenda, and Brenda and Dave, and let’s not forget the one of Dave and I?”
“Listen, I know it’s all pure BS, but she’s playing some kind of game and she’s been asking around about you two. Just watch yourselves. I know we aren’t real close, but I trust you two more than anyone else around here. If I can help or do anything, let me know.”
“If anything happens, we’ll keep you in the loop. But I doubt she’s anything to worry about.”
“Thanks. And tell Amy and Dave to watch their backs; she’s been real interested in them as well.”
“Thanks, Donna; we will.”
Rob hung up the phone, “Well, that was certainly interesting. The question is, can we use her, or even should we?”
“Rob, honey, I think we have enough conspirators right now, with Aim, Dave, Tracy, you and I, soon to include Cyd. I think we can keep Donna on the sidelines unless we end up in court getting sued for breach of privacy.”
“Okay, she’s in the reserve team whether she knows it or not. I hope to hell we don’t need her.”
Monday dawned with a truck appearing at 7:30, an obscene hour. The kids were on their way to school, and Bren just leaving for work. Cyd got out, looking disappointed that Rob wasn’t surprised. She hugged the stuffing right out of both of them and then Rob realized they had lucked out because John was heading out with nosey Joanie seeing him off. ‘I’ve never seen her see him off before. I bet she spotted Cyd and her curiosity meter pegged out,’ he thought.
Cyd waved “Hi” to Joanie, who came over to say hello.
“Cydne, isn’t it?” said Joanie.
“Yes, how are you? Let’s see, last year at Robbie’s Labor Day disaster, right?”
Joanie snickered, as Rob replied indignantly, “It wasn’t a disaster. Just because Mother Nature and I had a disagreement.”
Cyd looked at him with a glint in her eye. “If I remember right, you lost that little contest.”
Joanie added quite unnecessarily, “To this day I refer to hailstones as Mother Nature’s final argument. What brings you over this early?” she asked Cyd.
“This bum wants a network upgrade. I think my equipment can give him twice the throughput without a line upgrade.”
“That’s pretty impressive.” She turned to Rob, “What are you planning to do, run the whole web?”
“Naw, just do some consulting and I wanted the ability to set up some servers and get a good response time out of the house.”
“Twice the response?”
“At least, maybe three times, and all for . . .” Cyd replied and quoted an absurdly low price. Rob had to smile inside, ‘Actually, since she was slinging pure BS, maybe the price was absurdly high.’
“Cydne, when you are done with Rob, please come over and see me. We might be interested in something similar.”
“You bet! I’m only surveying his set-up today. I’ll come by afterwards. I just have to look at his hardware and software configurations and plan my install. Rob also promised me breakfast as part of my fee.”
“Well, if he has breakfast covered, I’ll feed you lunch if I can get the same price.”
“Food and a possible new client! Count me in. I’ll see you in a few hours. Care to join us for breakfast?” Cyd asked so sweetly. Joanie declined; she cited she needed to do a few things to do.
Cyd went into the house and she filled Rob in on her plan while they ate. “She’s greedy and this way she’ll let me in to see her hardware and then let me in at the software config without you having to break in.”
“Smart! But I only see one flaw.”
“Only one? I see several. Which one do you think will bite us in the ass?”
“I don’t like the idea of you alone with her.”
“Listen, butthead, I am a big girl. I can handle her. Besides, I want her to try something.”
“You what?” He practically jumped out of his chair.
Cyd smiled, “I want her guard down, I want her greedy for my supposed technical skills, and I want her to brag and boast and show me her stuff.”
“She’s dangerous.”
“She is also greedy and that makes her vulnerable. Relax, you can’t protect the universe, you know?”
“Maybe not, but I can try and protect . . .”
“. . . the ones you love.” Rob started to protest, but she was so sincere. “Not like you love Brenda, but in your own way, you love me and I love you. Why do you think I am here? Just like you didn’t show a glimmer of surprise when I got here. You knew I was coming; if I had a problem, you would have come to me. Besides, who else offers me a Guinness with breakfast?” she said as she raised her glass.
Cyd was Irish to the core. Her Irish grandparents brought her up after her parents were killed in an accident. To them, temperance meant no beer for breakfast.
“I still worry.”
“So have your lunch on your deck and I’ll talk her into feeding me out there so you can see I am safe.”
“That way, you can also bum another Guinness, because I know Joanie’s opinion of quality beer and wine.”
“She made fun of your port, didn’t she?”
“Yes.”
Cyd grinned, “I knew there was something about her I liked.”
“Ah, but she called Guinness ‘roofing tar’.”
“Why, that bitch!”
They ended up laughing and went into the office to kill some time.
At Joanie’s house:
The door opened almost before Cyd pulled her finger away from the bell.
“Hi, Cydne, come on in. I was afraid you might have forgotten about me.”
“A paying customer, lunch, and a good friend of Rob’s? No way.”
Joanie led her in and took her straight downstairs. The basement was completely finished, but only one door was opened. As they walked in, Cyd gasped.
“This is a technophile’s wet-dream.”
Joanie was proudly standing there while Cyd admired the rows of rack-mounted servers, online storage, digitizers, and other devices. A huge flat-panel display on one wall identified the main console.
“Wow, I am impressed. I never had a clue. Rob never told me.”
“A friend set it up for us. John administers it, for the most part.”
“This is great. I feel like a kid in a candy store.”
Joanie laughed at her enthusiasm. “To be honest, Rob doesn’t know. And I would appreciate if you don’t tell him.”
“Hey, it’s none of Rob’s business. I’m just surprised, that’s all. What do you do with all this?”
Joanie paused as if thinking. “Can you keep a secret?” At Cyd’s nod, she sat on a large and comfortable bench, sitting straight because there was no back. Cyd noticed that the bench was recently placed, as the carpet had the impression of several marks indicating an office chair. The flat-screen changed from a geometric screensaver to a crystal-clear picture of a cock.
“Oh, wow!” Cyd said appreciatively.
The picture started moving; it was a video clip. The huge cock started moving in and out of a pussy. Cyd looked at the screen.
“You better turn that off. My love life has been pretty lame lately. I might not get anything done.”
Joanie concealed her glee as she watched Cyd’s eyes never leave the screen.
Cyd licked her lips and finally looked at Joanie. Joanie hit another key and the audio portion came on. You could hear the cock gliding in and out and the cries of the girl getting her cunt stretched.
Cyd squirmed while standing there, her eyes again on the screen. Finally, enough self-control got its act together and Cyd looked at Joanie again. Joanie started laughing, making light of the whole thing. She minimized it but left it running. She did turn the sound down.
“Alright, now you know what we do. Are you okay with it?”
“I guess this is a pay-porn site?” Joanie nodded. “It doesn’t bother me. I don’t care what clients do with their computers, as long as you aren’t breaking the law. Just so you know, if I see anything illegal on your system, I am required to report it to the police in this area.”
“You won’t find anything like that here.” In an almost bored voice, Joanie told her, “We have straight sex, hard and softcore, lesbian and gay sex, lots of pictures, videos, chat rooms, message posting, and personals. It’s actually all pretty dull, but it’s a hobby. We aren’t very big, but we have tons of stuff.”
“So I guess anything to improve your throughput would be a blessing?”
“Yes. We aren’t having problems, but we have noticed some bottlenecks at certain times of the day. We are thinking about putting in a better line, but we don’t make enough money off of it to handle that expense.”
“I can understand that. Okay, if you give me a few minutes to make some notes on your hardware, then I’ll need access to the configuration files to see the internal set-up. That takes the longest, about an hour.”
“I have nothing pressing, so please go ahead.”
Cyd kept up a running commentary, building her story about the potential upgrade. How it used compression algorithms. Joanie looked bored but followed every move Cyd made as she looked at all the hardware.
“I am really impressed with your set-up. You have got top-of-the-line stuff. If whoever did this for you is ever looking for a job, have him call me.”
“I’ll pass the word. So now I guess you need access.”
“Yes, not full administrator access, just a manager’s account so I can poke around.”
“It’s all logged in already, with my manager’s password. You should be able to see everything you need.”
“Thanks. I’ll make this as quick and painless as I can.”
“Oh, take your time. I’ll tell you what. I have to go upstairs and take care of something and then I’ll make us lunch. I am not the cook Rob is but I think I can take good care of you.”
Joanie headed out the door and closed it behind her. Cyd watched the door for a second and then started her nosing around the system, taking copious notes.
Joanie went upstairs and logged into another computer in her bedroom. She set this up earlier and was soon looking at Cyd working. She sang quietly, “Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me.” She slid her hand into her shorts and slowly masturbated while watching Cyd as if she was waiting for something.
About forty-five minutes later, Cyd appeared to be done. She looked over at the door several times and then clicked the mouse again. The video clip came back to full screen and she sat there watching it. After a few minutes, she started squirming in the chair. She glanced at the door again and then spread her legs and pressed her palm on her pussy outside the shorts.
Joanie, upstairs, almost shrieked with joy. “Yes! I knew it. They never can resist.” She clicked a few times with her left hand, the right one never leaving her cunt.
The movie changed suddenly to a wider shot of a group. Instead of a close-up of a cock going in and out of a pussy, this showed a guy and two girls engaged in a hot threesome. The girls were in a sixty-nine while the guy fucked the girl on top’s cunt doggie style. Cyd paused as if she wasn’t sure what happened. Another glance at the door and she kept going.
The camera zoomed in on the girls; it was as if the guy didn’t exist. Joanie manipulated the sound slightly so Cyd could hear the sounds of sex as well as the sights.
Cyd was getting into it; her hand pressing hard, her other hand cupping her breast, pinching the nipple through the shirt and bra.
Joanie watched and decided it was time for lunch! She sneaked down the stairs, making no noise at all. The basement door opened without a sound and she could personally see the back of Cyd’s head as she sat there masturbating. Joanie got right behind her and put her breasts close to Cyd’s back.
Cyd took no notice until Joanie spoke. “You look like you could use a hand there.”
Cyd jumped clear off the bench and practically fell to the floor.
“Oh god, I am so sorry, Joanie. I don’t know what came over me. I am so . . .”
“Relax,” she said pointing at the screen, “I know what got into you. It does the same for me. It’s okay.”
Cyd stood there not knowing how to act. Joanie got behind her and pointed her toward the screen again. “Isn’t it so sexy to watch?” She pressed her breasts into Cyd’s back again and held her hips while she watched.
“I’ve never . . .”
“It’s okay, Cydne, just relax. No one is twisting your arm. You liked it and now you need to finish what you started.”
Cyd twisted away, “I can’t! It wouldn’t be right.”
Joanie smiled in a calm way. “Whatever you want. I still want you to do the upgrade. This is nothing. I was taken when I saw what you were doing. It’s all right. I shouldn’t have startled you.”
Cyd calmed down, her eyes still glancing at the screen.
Joanie turned off the movie and Cyd looked slightly disappointed. “Let’s go have lunch. I have a sandwich tray laid out; you can build your own.”
“Can we eat outside; it’s such a beautiful day.”
“Of course, whatever you wish. You know you have nothing to be embarrassed about. You are a beautiful woman and looked so very sexy while you were watching the clip.”
Cyd blushed, “Thank you, but next to you, I look like a boy. You are beautiful.” She jumped as if she just now realized what she said.
Joanie just smiled and led the way back upstairs. She could feel Cyd watching her ass all the way up. At the top of the stairs, she turned suddenly and stood there over Cyd.
“Before we go up, I want you to know that what happened is between us. You can trust me, as I know I can trust you about our Internet activities.”
Cyd blushed yet again and murmured her thanks. With that, Joanie let off the pressure, sure in the knowledge that Cydne would be thinking of little else for a while. To herself, she thought, ‘The next time she comes over, she will be mine! And if she fights, she can watch my little movie of her masturbating in my basement. Too bad she didn’t take off her clothes!’
Sure enough, there was a huge lunch tray with many types of meat, cheeses, and bread. Joanie told Cyd to take it out on the deck and she would bring some drinks. “Wine okay?”
“No thanks, but if you have a beer I wouldn’t mind. Do you drink Guinness?”
“Oh no, another Rob. I don’t see how you can drink that stuff.”
“At least you refrained from calling it crap. Don’t worry; I’ll go raid Rob’s fridge if he’s home.”
Cyd went outside and called back in to Joanie. “Hey, Joanie, Rob is outside; can he join us for lunch?” Joanie nodded with a slight sigh of resignation. Cyd yelled next door for Rob to “Get your ass over here and bring some real beer!”
Rob came over and admired the spread. Cyd said, “Joanie thinks I weigh too little, so I need some help here tackling all this food.”
“I never said that; you are spouting base libel. Shall I call my lawyer?”
Rob grinned, “She does that; she makes up the most outlandish things. I think it’s the Irish in her.”
They spent the next half-hour or so making inroads in the food when Cyd said it was time for her to go back to work. “Rob, I’ll have the prelims to you before the end of the week. I can come out again on Friday afternoon. Joanie, the same thing for you; might as well kill two birds with one stone.”
Rob said Friday was fine, while Joanie thought furiously, “Friday is okay, but I have an appointment in the early afternoon, so how about 3:30 or 4:00?”
“Sounds great. I’ll come over at 2:00, take care of Rob and then be here when you get back.”
“Perfect. Don’t make any dinner plans. I’ll even break down and dredge some Guinness up from the seafloor.”
“Oh, now that you learned Rob’s secret, I am putty in your hands. Food and Guinness!” Cyd headed for her truck laughing.
Back at Rob’s:
The phone rang practically as soon as he walked in from lunch. He left as soon as he could. Joanie made it easy; she had something on her mind.
“Hi, Rob; it’s Cyd. Did you survive the Dragon Lady?”
“I should ask you the same question. You had a slightly rumpled look about you.”
“Oh, I got her attention and she made her play. She was so busy planning my seduction that she didn’t pay any attention to my wandering through her computer system. Ethically I can’t tell you what she’s up to, but since you have it all figured out, I don’t need to. I’ll email you the particulars in a passworded file. You know what I’ll use as the password.”
He chuckled, “How could I ever forget?”
“Okay, handsome, bye-bye and I’ll plan on seeing you on Friday if you haven’t nailed her coffin yet. To be honest, if you hadn’t told me about her, she would have my ass in bed right now. She knows all the right buttons to push. And if the room was wired like I suspect, she’ll have me on Friday even if she has to threaten me with a vid of me in her basement.”
“What did you do in her basement?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know? Actually, not much, but it would be enough to blackmail an insecure person, which I am certainly not! Just take the bitch out before Friday. If I go to bed with anyone, it isn’t going to be with someone I don’t trust. I also figured out there is more going on than just a little blackmail. My price, handsome, is the whole story – every detail!”
“Cyd, it’s not my story to tell. I will tell you my part, but I can’t tell everything.”
Cyd paused, “Okay, that will do, but when this is over, I want to meet the whole team. You know my curious streak; either that, or I’ll poke my own nose in deeper.”
Rob laughed and agreed to her terms, then said goodbye.
As he hung up the phone he realized that in addition to everything else, Cyd had just as well admitted that she didn’t mind girls. ‘It’s amazing; the more you think you know someone, the less you actually know.’ A brief mental image of Cyd, Bren, Amy, Tracy, and even Donna jumped to his forebrain. What a combination. ‘I think I would die a happy man!’
Amy and Dave called just before the kids came home from school. She and Dave were at the airport, almost home and wanted to make sure the coast was clear.
“I think Dave is safe until the weekend. I’m pretty sure we can put an end to it by then, one way or another.”
“We’ll see you later. Don’t tell the kids and kiss Brenda and Tracy for us.”
Rob thought to himself, ‘Today is Monday; that gives us four days, preferably three if I want to keep Cyd and Dave out of Joanie’s clutches.’
Late in the afternoon, he got Cyd’s email with the complete network layout. “Nice set-up! Who could have imagined they were running this from their home? I think it may even violate local law, but I need to check on that. First things first. I have a little tidbit that Cyd didn’t get: John’s remote password. I wonder just how lazy he really is?”
Rob went and did something fun, shopping for hardware — a new computer, hard drive array, backup system, and a few other toys. It put a nice dent in his bank account, which meant his little vacation from the business world might end sooner than planned, but it was for a good cause. Setting it up took the rest of the time until the kids came home, then he spent the afternoon in grandpa-like heaven.
Bren came home and helped with dinner; the kids helped too, but dinner was on time anyway. Dave and Amy snuck in and pleasantly surprised the kids. They heard all the nice details of the trip and the kids rapid-fired through their stuff. They relaxed for a bit and then Dave and Rob retired to his office while the girls watched a movie with the kids in the basement.
Rob showed Dave the equipment, and he blanched when he realized the cost. “Shit, Rob, you can’t do this; this is my problem. Let me pay . . .”
“Bullshit. I can use this stuff for lots of things; besides, who cares about the money; this is family.”
He thought long and hard. “You know, for years I always envied you.”
Rob snorted.
“Seriously, you have a great life and everything seemed to come so easy. Amy and the kids always adored you; everyone who knows you respects you.”
“Dave, knock it off. I’ve had some breaks and made some others, but look at you. How many other people have submitted to the bitch’s machinations? You stood your ground and are fighting back.”
“Yeah, but only by dragging you, Bren, Amy, Tracy, and now Cydne down with me.”
“We fucking volunteered, just like you would have done in my place. Besides, Bren, Tracy, and Cyd are well insulated. She can’t touch them. She doesn’t know I’m involved yet and sees Amy as just a pawn. She bit off more than she could chew when she attacked you; she attacked all of us.”
“I need you to know . . .”
“I know, pal, I know.”
Tracy called in; she was trolling but no bites yet by the queen bee. She was giving us a screen-by-screen rundown. It also made us uncomfortable, because she would pause to masturbate every so often. It felt oddly voyeuristic to listen; Rob wound up sporting a hard-on and he wasn’t about to ask Dave if he was.
Amy came to check on them and to take Dave home. She and Tracy exchanged greetings and planned to meet for lunch tomorrow. Rob also set up a dump from Tracy’s laptop to his new computer/server.
After that, Bren and Rob snuggled and discussed the future. “Tracy still isn’t sure about moving in, but she isn’t having much luck finding something she can afford. She’s been looking for a month.”
“That choice is hers. We are open to whatever she wants. Talk to her tomorrow; if she agrees, you two can plan any needed remodeling for the basement. Amy would love to get into that.”
“I don’t want to do any remodeling until we know she’s staying.”
“Agreed, but you can plot and plan. Who knows; it might convince her. Amy thinks she’s great, the kids like her, and you love her. With references like that, how could I complain?”
“What do you think of her?”
“She’s . . . special! She jumps in to help us with both feet, and we end up making love with her, inviting her to live with us, and everything. She also drinks port. Hell, if she likes Guinness, I might marry her!”
Bren jabbed him in the ribs. “You aren’t getting rid of me that easy. Besides, she would marry Amy first.”
“You are absolutely correct. They clicked like no one I’ve ever seen.”
They curled and went to sleep. One final thought before sleep overcame them: Aim, Dave, Trace . . . where did it end? Cyd, Donna, who else?
Tuesday turned into the real turning point and proved that Joanie and John were lazy as well as stupid – all right, maybe not stupid, but certainly complacent. After they both left, Rob used his new toys to access their system. He couldn’t access as administrator, but John’s account let him set up a new administrator clone. This gave him all the admin rights, including the ability to disable accounts. This is normally not possible, but someone set up the system like they wanted it to be taken over.
So quickly, before either of them could have gotten to work, he changed their managers’ accounts and changed the password on the regular admin account. The only way they would notice a change was if they tried an admin function. He also changed the system transaction log to prevent these activities from being logged. Just in case he overlooked anything, he initiated a full system backup, working from most recent first and loaded his new backup tower with tape. Looking at the volume of data, it was going to take a long time!
While that was running, Rob started doing searches for anything to do with them, Tracy, even their zip code. He was pleased that aside from Dave’s masturbation, Amy’s flashing, them making love on the deck once, and a bunch of stuff in and around the pool, they had very little of anything incriminating. They did have hours of video of Amy walking, sunbathing, in Rob’s pool, even their recent water fight. Someone was sure fixated on Aim.
He did a port scan and found a bunch of cams, in addition to the ones in the backyard. Most of their house was wired, sound and picture. Rob found their archives and saw Cyd’s action and even Joanie watching from another room. ‘Cyd certainly was sexy, she and Tracy. . . Whoa, that’s going a little far; one thing at a time.’
Rob prepared a sampling of what he found and cut a disc of it for the others to see. The rest of the day was spent feeding the backup tower.
His opinion of Joanie got lower and lower. Her exploits involved turning people into slavish caricatures, serious sadism and control. If the participants were willing, all well and good, but she was really into blackmail, and it seemed to have gotten worse as time went on. The crazy bitch even maintained a diary of her activities, and did she have some crappy things to say about Dave upsetting her plans. ‘Good!’
He read her plans for Tracy; she had gotten her street address, but the only thing protecting Tracy was the fact that Joanie had so many irons in the fire. ‘I think I’ll have Tracy cool it since I have access to everything now.’
When Bren came home Rob had her run over to Amy’s to give them the disc to review. She stayed over while he spent the evening plotting how to handle all of this. Tracy offered to come by and keep him company, but he declined, perhaps foolishly. He called Cyd to bounce some ideas, but she wasn’t answering.
He set one flag to tell me if anyone tried to access the admin functions, and then curled up with a good book.
Wednesday:
They held a council meeting over the phone to plan their strategy. Cyd declined to participate because of legal concerns, but she did decide to make herself available for technical assistance. As a group, they decided to implement their plans that evening and start making their neighbors’ lives miserable.
Setting everything up was a snap. Rob kept an eye on their activities on the website and in their home. Fucking cams were everywhere! It did look like two separate houses, one upstairs and one down. Upstairs, they were Ozzie and Harriet; downstairs, they were the Osbornes.
Bren and Rob took step one and wondered how quickly it was noticed. Running a feed to his big screen, they played chess while keeping an ear out for any activity next door.
They heard a phone ring and Joanie answered it. “Hello.”
“Would you please repeat that?”
“No, I think you have the wrong number. . .I don’t care how you got this number; this is a residence, not a business.”
She hung up looking puzzled. John looked at her. “What was that?”
“A wrong number, someone complaining about a web site.”
John cocked an eyebrow and Joanie nodded slowly, over the heads of the kids. John went downstairs to the room Cyd had been in.
Rob switched views and watched John attempt to enter his account. He got in, but the usual admin functions were missing. Then he looked at the tech support screen, and instead of an email address, it had his home phone.
Rob smiled at Brenda. “I wonder how that happened?”
