Regret [EWC]

She studied the file until the details were ingrained in her mind. He was a good man, an honest man, loyal to his family, friends, employer and his country. She regretted the job she had to do, but do it she must. When the plane landed she grabbed her bag and exited the plane as quickly as possible, keeping her head down to keep from attracting attention. Once out of the terminal she went straight to the parking garage where her car awaited her.

Arriving at the hotel a little over 20 minutes later Serge was in the room waiting. She walked past him without a word and went straight to the bathroom to prepare. She glamoured herself very carefully- not too much makeup, he liked the natural look. Pretty but not flashy dress, small earrings, hair down and simple, a dab of J’adore behind each ear and on her wrists. Serge was waiting when she came out. “Are you ready for this?” She answered “I am ready to do what I must for my country.” She left the hotel room without even looking at him.

She saw the man from across the bar even though it was very crowded; he was very handsome. She cringed as he raised his beer and the light reflected off of his wedding band. “He doesn’t deserve this.” She waited until his co-worker staggered away with a gaudy looking woman and then approached the man. “May I sit here?” she asked. He motioned her to a chair. They chit chatted, mostly about his family, before he excused himself to go to the restroom. When she was satisfied that no one was looking she emptied the contents of the vial she had pulled from her purse into the man’s beer. They talked about his wife, kids and grandchild some more and he started to weave in his seat and his speech started to slur. “I don’t feel good” he said, and she offered to help him back to his hotel.

She had to struggle to get him in and out of the car and into the hotel room, and broke a sweat getting him onto the bed. He was out cold. Time to get to work. She put on latex gloves she had pulled from her purse and opened his laptop. It only took two tries to get the right password- his wedding anniversary date. She scanned through his files until she hit the jackpot: secured files from the DHS satellite ship. With his files and the pass codes they would be able to sneak into the system without causing alarm- the system would “think” he was doing maintenance and they would use the “back door” to work their way through the system to get to what they needed. No one would be the wiser. She copied the files and codes and slipped the disk into her purse, pausing to notice the computer wallpaper once she had closed the files. It was a picture of him and his wife on their wedding day. They looked so happy; a tear came to her eye as she thought of what she must now do.

She undressed the man who was still unconscious. She rumpled the bed covers and pillows and sprayed perfume on them and him. She re-applied her lipstick and gently kissed his cheek, his neck and then the inside of his upper thigh. Rubbing one of the pillows on her face to stain it with makeup she then threw it next to his head on the bed, then gently placed a few hairs from her head on the pillow and sheets. She hated this!

She cried all the way back to the hotel to rendezvous with Serge. How could she have done this? He was a good man, a devoted family man, and now when he wakes up he will believe he has cheated on his wife whom he loves with all of his heart. He is the type of man who will be eaten alive by the guilt and shame. If only he wasn’t so careful, using only secure private networks, using intricate encryption, layer upon layer of security. He never even used the internet on his work computer, not even to check his e-mail. If only just once he would have checked his e-mail on his computer instead of his phone we could have gotten to his files but no, he was too damn safe! All of this could have been avoided. As she pulled into the hotel parking lot she wiped her eyes.

Walking into the room she handed Serge the disk, grabbed her bag out of the bathroom and headed to the door. Suddenly she stopped and turned to Serge. “Why did I have to do this? Why did I have to hurt this man and his family?” Serge’s jaw clinched and his eyes turned hard. “I will say this once and only once. If the NSA wants to hack the DHS the reason why is none of your concern.” She closed the door softly behind her. As she drove to the airport she thought of how happy the man and his wife looked on his laptop wallpaper. She sobbed for the rest of the drive.

Ahh yes, well good ole J Edgar proved that sneaking lying $%#*!*@5, don't trust sneaky lying $%#*!*@5 didn't he.

Very good story!

reply to post by Iamschist
Thanks for stopping by and taking time to check the story out!
I see your cool lizard is back, but first time it scurried across your background I almost said $%#*!*@5 in surprise! It gets me every time!

reply to post by littled16


A good tale. That puts me off meeting any strange women in bars!. As in the X Files. Trust no one ....I was thinking there might be a twist at the end like your last one

reply to post by TheDoctor46
I thought this one up while stuck behind a big wreck on my trip back from Florida to see the hubby. Though we Skype every day when he is away working he still gets sad and lonely. Most evenings he and one of his work crew just sit on the balcony and drink beer. When I suggested maybe they should go out to some clubs with the younger guys he said with his luck he would get drugged and "date raped" so he'd just as soon drink beer on the balcony!

Thanks for reading Doc!

reply to post by littled16


Haha yes the balcony is probably safer...That is unless he falls off drunk!! . Good luck in the competition

reply to post by littled16


Chillingly evil. This line:

kissed his cheek, his neck and then the inside of his upper thigh.

was totally wicked, and sent shivers up my spine.

What an excellent short, but if he was persistent, he COULD take the hair samples and have them analysed, and you'd get busted. I'm sure your DNA would be on file, working for the NSA.

SnF! Great writing, packed into such a small space. Well done.

reply to post by Druid42
Thank you so much Druid. Your opinion means a lot to me! I did shorten it as I had originally done quite a bit more but I took out a lot of details that just slowed it down. Had to leave the kiss on the inside of his upper thigh in though so he would be convinced he'd been a bad boy and not suspect what had really occurred- I'm just naughty like that!

Thanks again for taking time to read my story!

reply to post by littled16


That was good I gave ya a SnF
I liked how it was written and the way you described things. It was simple but detailed. Hah..hope that makes sense. I just go blank when I try and write a story. I have a few poems I have been wanting to share but I honestly hate throwing them up when a contest is going on.

peace and love and hugs
~nat

She re-applied her lipstick and gently kissed his cheek,

That was good and intesting

reply to post by natalia
Thanks little natalia! Looking forward to your new poetry, so please shoot me a link when you get it posted! I'll see you at coffee/ice water time!

Hugs, webmom

reply to post by SarnholeOntarable
Thanks for stopping by, and I'm glad you enjoyed the story!

Good job! The scenario played out very well and believable. It was a nice balance of clearly told with enough detail to imagine it real.

reply to post by grayeagle
I'm glad you liked it! I really liked your latest poem too. I S&Fed it but didn't comment. After reading it I had no words!

reply to post by littled16


Very good....

"If the NSA wants to hack the DHS the reason why is none of your concern"

NSA vs DHS

Hits close to home the way things are playing out in today's news.
Sounds like it would make for a good novel or better, a movie.

Glad you got to see your Honey.
He gave you some inspiration for an excellent short story.

Much respect~
snarky

reply to post by snarky412
Glad you took time to read my story Snarky. I figured after the first story was so funny I'd go a little sad with this one. Thought it up when I got stuck behind a wreck in Mississippi- didn't have anything else to do!

Originally posted by littled16
reply to post by snarky412

 

Glad you took time to read my story Snarky. I figured after the first story was so funny I'd go a little sad with this one. Thought it up when I got stuck behind a wreck in Mississippi- didn't have anything else to do!

Never got to read your first story.
Send me the link for it when you get time.

I like a good suspense/thriller type but I also do funny stories.
Let me know if you do another one.