Outstripped (14 page)

Six
weeks would seem like an age, but in many respects it was a godsend and fitted
in well with her other activities. Lucy's job placement was a priority, even
though there wasn't much for Jody to do except moral support and guidance.

Jody
also had a complementary Caribbean cruise coming up. She'd been making very
good headway in the cruising sector and this didn't go unnoticed in the travel
trade. One of the big lines needed her to sample 'their way' of life and
entertainment on the high seas as a bribe, or rather encouragement, to sell
more of their holiday staterooms as opposed to their
competition's
.
'Word' had also got round that Jody was imminently about to leave 'Three Kings'
and she was being inundated with offers and trials.

"It's
one of the better perks of the trade
"
Jody would
say. "How can anyone be certain that a hotel, airline, ship or camel for
that matter, is better than the next guy's, unless
its
proven?"

The
whole industry revolves around freebies and complementaries. Without them, who
would know the difference? You can't wait forever for the rating agencies, and
you can't always trust the public for genuine feedback, untainted by personal
agenda or attention seeking.

So
'bribery' it is! Fantastic eh?

Monday
workday took far too long to come around for Lucy. She made three sightseeing
visits to B.P.L. in the previous week just to feed her curiosity and give her a
heads up on the place. She justified it to herself on the grounds it was
almost
on her route to other places,
but, in truth, she was really just stalking. As a result she almost got caught,
spying from the perimeter, like some down market private investigator trying to
catch out the cheating husband, but her luck must have been in, as the truck
driver's attention was suddenly diverted and he was required elsewhere.

Anyway,
she walked from the tube station and arrived early to make a good impression.
B.P.L. was a sizeable place that looked like it had been expanded and added to
over the years. The main office block was traditional enough but the adjoining
factory was definitely a sixty’s add-on and had been visibly altered and
extended over the years since then. Lucy assumed they must have bought the
place and brought it up to standard piece meal.

The
entranceway was imposing enough to impress any business associates and sales
reps, and the foyer-come-waiting-room, was actually quite tasteful. Better than
the usual dated settees, terrible pictures and cheese plant variety show. This
was modern and comfortable and had some big, bright and bold abstract art on
the walls.
Enough to feed any visitor’s imagination and probably
a ploy to detract from the nature of their product offerings, which unfortunately
included colostomy bags.

"How
would you go about marketing them anyway," thought Lucy, "and how do
you tell everyone you make condoms without covering the walls in porn."
Lucy considered a number of probably inappropriate solutions and the artwork to
go with them and began smiling to herself. She was interrupted by an older
gent' passing through.

 
"Do you need some assistance? Only the
office doesn't open till eight."

"Er,
no thank you. I'll wait. I'm here for the Temp position. P.A. for Mister
Banner."

"Father
or son?"

"Son,
I think." she said. Now a little confused, but she had to be right “Coz
Luke couldn't possibly have one
of his own
. At least,
not at work.”

"He's
probably in already. He's an early starter. Do you want me to find him for
you?"

"No,"
she replied, "I'll just wait for the office to open and do my
introductions the proper way. The ladies will want to show me through I should
think."

"No
problem. I'll most likely see you around then," he smiled and made his
exit through what was possibly the door to the factory.

Lucy was
left on her own again to contemplate the artwork, the magazines neatly stacked
on the coffee table and the front doors, through which everyone must shortly
pour. And they did.

Eventually
two ladies came through the double doors and one of them had a key for the main
office. As she opened the door Lucy formally introduced herself to the other,
who, as it turned out, was the receptionist. They looked her up and down a bit
before inviting her in. She was offered a seat and asked to wait just a few
moments whilst they went through the regular rigmarole for opening the place.
The alarms were already off. Someone must have done it already. So the answer
phone was switched off, the lights went on, computer screens activated, mail
placed on the front reception desk and now, they could all head for the brew
room.

Whilst
they milled around the coffee making facilities in the kitchen one of the
ladies telephoned Mister Banner to see if he wanted one as well. He must have
said yes, as she then asked if Lucy was to be brought up also.

"We'll
take his drink up together and I can introduce you then," she said.

Lucy
had, by now, taken her coat off and by the almost instant reaction from all and
sundry she knew the pot had just been given a bloody good stir. Clearly they
weren't used to hot young things in these parts. Hers was the only skirt above
the knees and only then did she realize that all the others must have forgotten
what a cleavage looked like. Lucy was proud of hers, so there it was, on
display.

"What's
the point of being blessed with them, if you don't use them," her mother
used to say to her. She decided not to say a word but to carry on as if the
staring hadn't happened.

The 'chit-chat'
restarted and the moment was forgotten (for now). When all the drinks were made
Lucy was asked to carry the tray and follow. Through the buildings and
upstairs, she wondered if she'd remember the route back. It’s always the same
with new places though. You get used to it and you find your way around in the
end.

The
upper hallway had a number of portrait photos on the walls but they were
walking too fast for a proper look. Into Mister Banner's office and there were
two of them, one sitting, one standing. Luke and the older guy she'd met
downstairs earlier.

They
exchanged smiles, and a few raised eyebrows then Luke took the tray from her.
It was becoming more and more apparent that young blood was a bit of a novelty
round here. He introduced the gentleman to his right as Mister Banner, Senior.
His father. Lucy apologized unnecessarily, for not realizing, but it was all
cast aside. Once the formalities were over, Lucy was whisked away again for
site training and familiarization, with the promise of returning for a brief on
her responsibilities alongside Luke.

As it
turned out there were other young things at B.P.L. Male and female.
In the factory, in the yard and a few in the office.
They
just hadn't all arrived through the front doors. Lucy determined the reason
behind her special attention had to be in the presentation of said 'young
things'. Tarts with tattoos, bad hair and crappy clothing don't do much for
visual impact and neither does a face full of Coke and Mars Bars, other than to
block out all but the peripherals and spoil the moment.

Lucy was
no snob, but "What is the younger generation coming to?" she thought,
followed up by, "Oh my God, I sound just like my dad".

With
orientation out of the way, Lucy was re-introduced to the bosses and shown to
her very own office and desk next door. Luke and his dad were very much old
school and still hadn't managed to kick the habit of a Personal Assistant. Luke
could type, with one or two fingers, but his father was not party to the
electronic gadgetry of the 21st century. In truth, half of her job was going to
be supporting Banner Senior and half would be looking after all of Luke's wants
and wishes whilst he moved and shook in his own version of 'the business
world'. And let's face it, when you're the boss, a successful one that is, you
don't have to work that hard. It’s your support crew that does all the work.
You just need to mix in the right circles, be prepared to watch, spend and
invest a little money, and talk a good game.

Her
first few jobs included typing out some letters for ‘Senior’, which had been
left for her on the recording device, physical mail sorting and email trawling.
In truth Lucy suspected they didn't really need a Temp', since there were
enough office staff to cover any event, but maybe the pair of them were a
little too self important and pathetic. Unable to wipe
their
own
noses for two weeks. “Still, what was she thinking, she wasn't here
to think, she was here to do.”

Jody had
told her to play things very low key to start with.

"Ease
yourself in, don't get cocky and just blend in as best you can," she had
said.

"That’s
easy for her to say. I'm not dressing down to match in with this crowd."

As a
precaution to counter Lucy's eagerness, Jody hadn't given her any instructions
on what she needed. That could wait until she settled and had done a little
more than make coffee and tea.

Eleven
thirty rolled around pretty swiftly and Luke paid her a visit. He'd waited for
all her tutors to vanish before waltzing in unannounced and closing the door
behind him.

"So,
vee meet agen, mine fraw line," he began in his worst or best mock German
accent (or Churman accent to be precise).

"You
have managed to infiltrate zee inner sanctums of mine industry and yet you do
not hide. You even dare to seduce mine eyesight viz your leetle skirt and viz
your open blouzon. Vot is your mission. You vill talk. Vee
have
vays of making you talk!"

"This
was more like it," Lucy thought and in her best, or worst, French dialect
she responded with, "Ma superiors 'ave determined you are planning to
undermine an' expose the existence of very small furry animals we keep in our
under garments. Ma mission is to build a resistance to certain plans
an'
advances. I 'ave clear instruction to provide evidence
an'
to bring down the perpetrators from wizzin. I yam to use
all necessary forces
an'
submissions in ma quest. But
wait, 'ow did you manage to get all of this from moi, so early in ma
mission?"

"Az
I sed, Vee have vays of making you talk!"

Lucy
couldn't keep it up any longer and burst out laughing, closely followed by
Luke. The spark from their first encounter at "The Last Drop" had
been reignited and Lucy was confident there would be opportunities to progress
this relationship according to plan.

They
struck up conversation of the 'none work' variety but the door was suddenly
opened and they were unfortunately interrupted before any real closeness could
build. Lucy was required to undertake a host of repetitive and meaningless
chores and tasks and earn her agency's not inconsiderable fees until the father
and son tag team had some real jobs for her.

She was
not really welcomed in by the staff as one of their own, since they couldn't
see the point in her being there in the first place, but Lucy did her best to
fit in with them all anyway.

On the
third day she turned up for work punctually, as usual, as was her way, only
this time she was armed with instructions from Jody. She had her confident head
on and it showed, possibly a little too much, but she was determined to enjoy
her role and its importance.

Her
instructions were simple. Over the course of her employ, she was required to
undertake a number of critical 'missions' and purloin a host of small but
significant items. They varied dramatically and she needed to dream up a few
fake but believable scenarios in order to make them obtainable. Some would be
easy, innocent even. Others required a bit more imagination. All would be down
right sneaky, and she'd be miles up 'shit creek' without the proverbial paddle
if caught. The naughtiness of the whole thing gave her a level of excitement
she'd never felt before. Jody had reminded her the night before, she'd need to
be careful not to unwittingly arouse suspicions and give the game away.

Sellotape
with Luke's fingerprints on was
so easy
.
All she needed was a few presents to wrap and then wait for him to come into
her office.

"Make
your self useful," she half requested, half instructed him, "and do
me some Sellotape or Scotch tape or whatever it's called. You can line them up
on the desk for me. I need lots."

The fingerprints
on the wood proved a little tougher. A few days later she left some long
architrave type pieces standing up and leaning on his car. There was no one
around and he assumed someone must have inadvertently left
them
there and so he put them back in the workshop a little closer to where he
thought they belonged. Having watched him from the upstairs windows, Lucy
sought them out and collected them wearing gloves. She cut them into two foot
long pieces and stuffed them into her shopping bag like French bread.

The
signed letterhead was down right risky. She would often bring in a whole pile
of letters for Luke to sign at the end of the day or before he went out on
appointments. On a few occasions there would be an extra sheet with his name
typed at the bottom but nothing above. She would wait until he was rushing out
the door before producing the letters for signing. They'd be presented to him
'stacked' so the signature area of all but the top one was the only visible
portion and there was no need to read each page. This way he could sign quickly
and be on his way.

"See
how I look after you, speeding things up," she'd say with a smile. And he
appreciated every moment of it. "Bet your usual P.A. Doesn't look after
you like I do, eh?"

The
computer stuff was pretty easy. All she needed was a couple of company discs
and some meaningless and boring 'read me' and 'encryption' type files with the
dates wiped that she could copy onto them.
Child's play,
really.

The
postage franking machine mission was a little too hard to deal
with
as she couldn't reset the date due to it having some
sort of lock on it. She decided to improvise and came up with a devious little
replacement solution of her own. Since she couldn't get the postage marks
requested she would do the next best thing. By placing an A4 envelope under the
letters to be signed one day, Luke's signature impression came through and
undeniably branded it as BPL and more importantly his.