Belly Literary Universe (part 2)

Cozca's Devils part 9: Preparing the Data

Jackie took a break from watching the laptop screen and looked over at Kelri in the driver seat. How could Valerie find her attractive? She thought to herself while staring at the woman's massive shirt straining gut pressed up against the steering wheel. Ugh. Jackie assessed her again for the third time in the car ride. Well it's not that she's ugly. She has cute facial features. And besides that belly, she's just thick I guess. She looked down at the rest of Kelri's body again. Plump thighs and chubby arms. Okay so she's more than just thick. I mean she is shapely after all. And I understand how that could be attractive. But that gut...

Kelri cleared her throat. "Everything okay?"

Jackie blinked hard. "Uh yeah, was just wondering when you were going to fill me in on all the rest of the details. You know, the cult? The Secret Advisor?"

Kelri sighed. "I can't tell you everything now. That wouldn't help this whole thing would it."

Jackie just grunted. Kelri shook her head and shrugged. "I mean, if you have questions, you can go ahead and ask them. I can't promise you'll get the answers just this minute," she said, then plopped both her hands atop of her belly and watched the road.

Jackie didn't waste time. "Okay. So you were tricked into all this? How exactly did you get tricked into stealing data?"

"Hah, are you friends with Hugo?" Kelri asked. "Because he tried to get me fired over that. Don't need you reporting back to him. He had some good evidence I'd done it as well, but not enough to prove it."

"Your old boss? I heard you got him fired?"

"That's a different story. But after he tried to get rid of me, I had to do something... Anyway that's not what you asked. The Secret Advisor has this way of... He's a bastard. No matter what, he's always a bunch of steps ahead of you. Dangling stuff. And nudging. If you try and resist him he'll just come at you with a different method of getting you to follow his plans."

"That's great. But what did he do exactly? Like I said, you don't just accidentally steal data."

"I was like you - looking for the asshole. After all this weight gain started I was trying to get my hands on him. Looking back, it's hard to squeeze out the motivation. It gets muddled in the chaos of suddenly getting fat and coming to terms that maybe you might just be a little okay with it. I was fumbling in the dark. He knew and when he dangled pieces of information, I latched onto them and hoped they were the truth. He led me to Maia with the pretense that she was him-"

"She's not though, right?" Jackie interrupted.

"No. I don't even know if she's talked to him. Anyway. After that he had me get to know her - get friendly. And then as a clue he said that the data that got stolen contained a clue to who he was. It was a lie of course. So damn obvious in retrospect. Me logging in opened up an opportunity for him to remote in and steal it all."

"Wait... That's what you fell for?" Jackie laughed then put on a mocking voice. "Hur dur I put a clue to my secret identity in these super confidential medical files. Oh could you be a dear and unlock them for me?"

"It was dumb. But like I said, he draws you in and makes you feel like you're not in a maze of mirrors. You know what happened after that though? Some asshole with a beard and a trenchcoat burst into my apartment with a gun. Accused me of stealing the data. Said he worked for the research center and had been tracking the Secret Advisor and thought it was me. Went by Galvanized Star or some shit. Later learned his name is Marvin Woodward. Coworker in a sense."

Jackie's amusement vanished. "He did what!?" Jackie burst out. For a moment she thought her cover was blown. But she regained her composure. No it's fine. She doesn't know I know him. That was a reasonable response to a story of a gun being pulled. Easy now. Focus on that.