So, what do
you think?"
"Hmmm?"
"I said,
what do you think?" Jean Grey asked again, a tinge of exasperation on her face.
She pointed to a party dress of green silk, tight and low cut on the model in
the Saks catalogue.
"That is
something you would wear." Ororo said evenly, picking at her salad.
"Is there
something wrong?"
"It's
something about work…" She trailed off, thinking. "I want to talk to you
tonight. Can you come over?"
"Yes. I don't have court until
Friday. Is this Ororo Munroe to Jean Grey or client to lawyer?"
"A little
of both."
"Ah." Dr. Ororo Munroe worked for
the Bronson Group, a mega conglomerate of the pharmaceuticals world that
employed the best and produced the best, especially in their stock value. Their
scientists were eagerly sought after, and their botany division, where Ororo
worked, was reputed to be the best in the world.
In addition to being a great brain
respected profusely in her field, Ororo was a magnanimous beauty. With her long
white hair and even mocha skin and blue eyes, almost all of the men in Bot
Head, short for Botany Headquarters of Bronson Group, had at least four sexual
dreams a week where she was the star.
"But I shouldn't let it bring down
our lunch." Ororo brightened. "When do you have to be back at the office?"
"Three." Jean looked at her watch.
The brilliant red headed lawyer was a step away from making partner at her
firm, Ashby, Donald, and Trent. Usually in tailored suits in shades of green,
she was used to using her smile to disarm juries, while her glare could inspire
fear in the most seasoned prosecutor.
Tall and slender, her green eyed gaze
confused many a man in her trial career, for it revealed little of her
intellect, thinking her a bimbo who acquired a token degree. But once they
heard her speak, shock set in as they realized they weren't dealing with a
woman who had a dynamite body, but a lawyer who could talk circles around their
cases and make wimps out of their most tough witnesses.
"That gives
us two hours. We'll pick up the dress and a pint of Haagen-Dazs, and talk for a
while." Ororo offered, pushing the tomato salad away disdainfully. As a senior
researcher, she was allowed to pick her lunch hours, as long as you finished
the work. They did not notice the tourist gawking at their legs as he snapped
pictures of their faces with a high
powered zoom lens. Once his roll was completed, he put it on top of a
trashcan and walked away nonchalantly. Two seconds afterward a man wearing dark
colors and matching glasses picked it up.
A few hours
later the guard looked up from his newspaper and stared at Dr. Munroe as she
flashed her badge and continued moving, her long braid hanging down the back of
her tasteful pinstripe suit as it hugged her supple body. He watched her
progress down the hall and adjusted his fly, oblivious to the look of digest on
her face as she slid her badge in the lock, waiting for the light to blink. It
flashed green and she pushed open the door to the lab. "Good morning Henry."
She mustered a smile and sat down at her terminal.
"Ororo." He
smiled as he leaned over the side of her shoulder. "What are you up to?" He
knew close proximity bothered her.
"Research."
She said noncommittally, and missed the frown as she quickly checked her email.
"Is there something wrong?"
"No, not at all. Just that the
master bater will be going offline soon." The mainframe was lightheartedly
referred to as the master bater, for some reason unknown for years. Ororo
turned and her chest ran into Henry's arm. He looked down and almost fainted, but
she wasn't paying attention.
"When does this start?"
"In half an hour. But we get the
rest of the day off and tomorrow." He said as if he engineered it himself.
"I see. Voluntary?"
"Of course, but we have no pressing
experiments, and the higher ups said you could relax your hold on Project:
Greenland."
"I'd rather
not." Ororo said as she turned back. Henry frowned and took a deep breath, and
started again.
"Well I
thought we could get a drink tonight, you know, talk a little over dinner…"
"Henry, I
keep my professional and personal life separate."
"Okay,
that's respectable. What's the research?" He tried to keep his voice light and
carefree, but he was boiling inside.
"Nothing to
worry yourself about."
"Clue me
in." Henry insisted again.
"I'd rather
not."
"I'm hurt
you're going to leave your partner in the dark." Ororo became riled, and they
were the only ones in the computer lab.
"We are not
partners Henry. We've worked on three projects. Three out of seventeen. We are
not partners." She sighed as she saw him angrily pick up his jacket and leave.
Rubbing her temples with relief, Ororo produced a minidisk from her jacket
pocket and slipped it into her terminal, and glancing at her clock, realized
time was seeping away quickly.
Bringing up
a database she built to cross reference anything in the master computer with
her current project and baby, codenamed Greenland. Downloading everything that
came up, the file transfer took thirteen minutes, causing Ororo to tap her heel
in nervous energy. What if someone came looking for her? From the looks of
things, the day and a half off wasn't voluntary after all…
Her
computer beeped and she smiled, sliding the disk out and signing out of her
terminal, every pc around dark and eerily quiet. Placing the disk back in her
breast pocket she smoothed her jacket and took a deep breath. A hand landed on
her shoulder and she whirled around, squelching a scream.
" Dr.
Munroe, you can't be here any longer." The guard at the front said, while
marveling he was actually touching the beautiful genius. Ororo looked down at
his hand and back at him, and he removed it quickly.
"Thank you
Stanley. I'll be leaving now." She picked up her purse and slid past, quelling
the need to run. Somewhere on the higher levels Ororo was the topic of
conversation.
"You were
right." He said, glaring at the drink in his hand. "I know she's suspicious."
"Of
course."
"I want to
know exactly what she knows. If she leaves tonight, sting quickly and quietly,
no mistakes." The man in charge sat back, his hands in a triangle as he
contemplated. "Do you think she's fallen for the electronic trail?"
"She has a
lot intelligence. It's too premature to say." He said carefully.
"I want
this handled, and handled well."
"Yes sir."
"I trust
you."
"Of
course."
