Punching Bag

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Townsend merely nodded, stood from the table and sent me home to refresh. He said the car will be outside for me in an hour.

I took the longest shower I could afford to take, scrubbing hard to remove all the doubt and nerves that have plagued me from the morning. I'm good at my job. I can do this. It's for Raymond Reddington, I have no choice but to do this. I have to push my feelings down, I can't let anything get in the way.

I have no idea where he is taking me but I decide to dress business casual. I put on high waisted slim fitting dress pants, black heels and a white blouse. I don't get long to myself afterward before I hear the car pull up outside.

I open the front door and I'm met by Vandyke.

"Afternoon Cora." He reaches out and shakes my hand, then guides me down my steps to the car.

He opens the back door for me but I freeze at the sight of Townsend. He's wearing a navy suit with a white shirt, his eyes hidden by a pair of dark sunglasses. He types away on his phone, looking much more composed than he did earlier this morning.

I'm sure Vandyke noticed I paused a little before getting into the car.

Townsend stops typing to acknowledge me.

"Cora, good morning." He smiles faintly at me.

"Good morning." I say in response, smiling back.

Vandyke gets into the front seat and we begin to drive away from my house.

"So where are we going?" I ask him while he goes back to his phone.

"There's a meeting I wanted you to attend with me across town." He says without looking up.

For some reason desperate to gain his full attention I throw out another question.

"Anything I should know? In preparation?"

"No."

I sigh softly to myself and we spend the rest of the car ride in silence.

•••

We arrive outside of a restaurant that seems to be empty.

Vandyke opens the door for me while Townsend gets out on his side and walks around to stand by me.

Townsend looks at Vandyke. "All set?" He asks him. Vandyke nods in answer.

At this Townsend places his hand at the small of my back. I stiffen slightly at the unexpected gesture, but then corrected myself and let him lead me into the restaurant.

Just like I thought the place was empty, except for two men in suits sitting at a booth in the far back.

Upon seeing us they stood up and shook our hands.

"Neville, glad to finally be meeting with you." Said one of them as we all sat down. Vandyke remained standing a few steps back.

He nodded impatiently in response.

"This is Cora. You'll be pitching to her." I tried to seem like I wasn't surprised or nervous by this. I kept my face expressionless.

"Gentlemen." I said then nodded at them to start.

"Well, our tech does all the normal operations. When the bug is placed onto the target it latches on, kind of like a leech. From there it will send a live tracking location to you."

"Does it record audio? Visual?"

"It has the option to record audio, yes."

"Is there an automatic attachment?"

"The time from placing the bug to latching is approximately half a second."

"You misunderstand me, if I wish to, could I leave the bug on a wall, and when my target walks past it, will the bug disconnect itself from the wall, and attach itself to my target?"

Their eyes widened at my question. Clearly their technology is not as advanced as they think compared to the underground businesses I've been working with for years.

"Or for example could I remotely drive the bug, like a drone, onto my target?"

His jaw tenses.

"That is not a feature that our technology can perform."

I nod slowly and lean back into the chair. I then feel Townsend's leg against mine. A gesture that I've asked the right questions. But he keeps his leg next to mine, the heat between them pulling my focus away.

"Look our technology works and is safe. We've never had a malfunctioning issue and have had zero reports that the bug has been noticed by the target. It's small design draws no attention."

I'm silent for a moment as I consider this. Technology like that is reliable and there's less room for error. I'm not sure what Townsend's intentions are for its use so I can't guarantee if it's the right technology for him. It's a simple bug, it's nothing fancy.

"What do you think Cora?" Townsends voice crushes her thoughts.

"I think, the technology is standard and would come in useful for basic operations and surveillance. However this company clearly lacks advanced engineering, there are other products that can do more" I say confidently.

One of the businessmen scoff.

"Gonna let a woman run your business now Townsend? You've verbally agreed to the quote just fucking sign the deal."

There was no time for anybody to react.

Townsend shot up from his seat, grabbed onto the man's wrist and stabbed through his hand with one of the forks on the table.

"What the FUCK!" The man screamed out in pain. His partner immediately sprung up from his seat and took five steps back.

"I was more than willing to sign the FUCKING deal. Until you became a sexist cunt." He spat at the man, still holding the fork to his hand.

"Cora we're leaving." He says to me without looking, without moving his hand.

I stand up from my seat and move over to be next to Vandyke.

Townsend then releases his hold, the man instantly removes the fork and holds his hand to his chest in pain.

Nothing is said as Townsend places his hand again on my back and walks us out.

We get into the car, and we ride home in silence. Townsend's hand gripping my thigh possessively.