The Sexual Assistant

Chapter 6

Barnett Lay sat at home, staring at a computer screen. He was working on the mystery of Natasha. He had gone over her life history several times before but was no nearer to finding out why she was having a relationship with him. Her Google record was a Public Relations dream come true. Natasha was successful in everything she did. At least, as far as the public records were concerned.

"Give me the pain,

Give me the fears,

Give me the sadness,

Give me the tears," he mumbled quietly to himself.

Barnett was not finding anything negative about the elusive woman whose bed he shared. He pushed his chair away from the desk. The only way to find out her secret was to dig deep outside anything published. Barnett needed to find something about her that was not perfect. Preferably, something from a moment of intense stress. In a crisis, the real personality is revealed. Natasha was up to something, and it drove Barnett to distraction. Why couldn't he solve this particular puzzle?

#

In London, Harris, and Buffy set up their new office space. They were on the second floor of an 18th century home. The room was small, with white plaster walls and a fireplace unused since 1914. With Buffy and Harris were three DIA officials and one member of England's MI6 department.

"Looks like we are in the spying business," observed Harris.

"Intelligence gathering," corrected Buffy.

Harris and Buffy had met their roommates earlier and, disappointing for Harris; they were strictly business types. His sense of humor would not be welcomed here. However, there was a job to perform. Nancy was sent to a private club a couple of city blocks from Whitehall. The first floor of the club was all about drinking and conversation. The second floor was a sex club for select members of the government. Nancy was introduced to the club's manager as "Jade, the Sexual Assistant." He liked the name and put Jade into a private room upstairs.

Harris had added equipment to "Jade" for recording video and audio. Jade's telemetry was beamed to Buffy's work station. Here Buffy could monitor her activities and conversations. Harris was in charge of making sure Jade kept functioning as intended. A tracking device enabled Harris and Buffy to determine if Jade was being moved. Harris had changed Jade's synthetic intelligence to better prepare Jade to be a spy. As part of the upgrade, Harris had turned on Jade's ability to monitor situations, compare them to her set of knowledge, and then draw logical conclusions. In other words, Jade now had the full power of rational thought.

Harris and Buffy went through their checklists of making sure Jade was ready for her first assignment. At 4 pm, the club would open. All they could do now is wait for Jade's first customer.

#

The Surrey Gentleman's Club opened promptly at 4 pm that afternoon. Retired diplomats Ronald McHallis and Donald Whitmore were the first members to enter. They seated themselves at the elaborate oak bar and ordered gin. This had been their daily ritual for over forty years. "Ron and Don" were senior members of the club. They could remember back to a time when women were not allowed on the first floor. But, times had changed.

At 5:05 pm, Ross Milligan burst into the club. She had only been a member for five years. However, she was known as the Terror of Whitehall. With close-cropped hair, her imposing size, and loud vocal delivery (usually spiced with obscenities), she was a woman to be feared. Disliked by all regular members, she was the frequent companion of Ron and Don.

"Ey, Ross! What's new?" asked Ron.

"Had a couple of bastards for lunch," she replied.

Ron and Don laughed. The three shared crude language for several minutes before Don piped up with some information for Ross.