Baiting Trouble (Sinful Business Book 2)

by Marie Astor

  “Fine. You can have your choice of outfit, as long as it involves a mini skirt.”

  Ally peered into the closet, running her hand through the hangers. “How about this?” She pulled out a black sheath dress, which she hoped would pass muster with Delilah. The hemline was just above the knee.

  “That looks like something I’d wear to a funeral.”

  “Fine, just give me those damn shorts.”

  Twenty minutes later they were in a cab. The driver knew directions to Hank’s right away, and after a short drive they were there. Ally paid the fare and they got out of the cab.

  Hank’s was located in a two-story wooden building with a shingled roof. Sounds of loud music and stomping feet could be heard as they approached the bar. Ally tugged at her shorts uncomfortably, wishing she hadn’t let Delilah talk her into wearing this ridiculous outfit. Oh well—she guessed she deserved it for being sharp-tongued earlier, even if she hadn’t intended to be.

  “After you.” Delilah opened the door.

  Inside, it was dark and loud, and it took a few moments for Ally’s eyes to adjust. She spotted Mark in the back of the bar several minutes later. He was surrounded by a small group of people she assumed to be Orion’s employees. Ally was just about to say to Delilah that they should walk over there when she saw Mark waving at them and heading in their direction.

  “Ladies, I’m so glad you could make it tonight,” Mark said, beaming at Delilah and then directing his gaze at Ally in an afterthought.

  “We wouldn’t have missed it for the world,” Delilah assured him.

  “Come on, let me get you drinks and introduce you to the crew. It’s crowded in here, so don’t you two get lost.” Mark used the excuse to grab Delilah’s hand and she didn’t resist, rolling her eyes at Ally just as he turned away.

  At least it was good to know that they had a friend at Orion. Ally was pretty sure that by the end of the night Delilah would get Mark to go to the ends of the earth for them. She only hoped that he’d be able to get them the information they needed.

  “What are you ladies drinking?” Mark asked once they were by the bar.

  “Bloody Marys—make them extra strong,” Delilah volunteered before Ally could get in a word.

  “Good choice.” A smile appeared on Mark’s face as he placed the order with the bartender. Then he introduced them to his coworkers. There were only five of them, mostly engineers from the plant.

  “I thought it’d be a bigger turnout,” Ally said to Mark.

  “It was a last minute thing,” Alex, one of the guys from the office, cut in. “Many people already had plans. Mark is usually not one to get a party going, but I see now what all the fuss was about,” he added with a wink, elbowing Mark.

  Mark flushed. “I thought it’d be nice for Katherine and Trix to meet some of the office folks. You know, help them settle in.”

  “Welcome to the family, girls.” Alex grinned.

  “And by the way, call me Katie,” Delilah added.

  “Here’s your drink, Katie.” Mark handed Delilah a drink. “And yours, Trix.”

  Delilah’s eyes grew wide. “Whoa! That’s some drink!”

  “It’s a drink and a meal in one,” Ally added, eyeing her glass. It had a long toothpick with a chunk of cheddar cheese, a beef jerky, a pickle and three giant olives hooked to its rim. There was also a celery stalk floating in the glass.

  “That’s the idea. It’s Bloody Mary Hank’s style.” Alex held up his glass. “Welcome to Newport, girls.”

  Ally took a sip of drink. It was strong and spicy and just what she needed. She took a longer sip, instantly feeling the effects of alcohol kicking in. She was much more relaxed now, relaxed enough to take a bite of the chunk of cheese that came with her drink and follow it up with beef jerky. They hadn’t had dinner, but she figured that a couple of these Bloody Marys would remedy the situation.

  “So what do people do for fun around here?” Delilah asked Mark, eyeing the dance floor that was pretty crowded with dancing couples.

  “Oh, you know—hang out, go out for drinks. Fishing is really big here,” Mark continued, oblivious to the direction of Delilah’s gaze.

  “Mark is a big fisherman,” Alex chimed in. “Last year he caught a salmon that was twenty pounds.”

  “Wow, that big?” Delilah made it sound like Mark had wrestled an alligator with his bare hands. “Did it taste good?”

  “We never got to find out. Mark is a catch and release kind of guy,” Alex explained.

  “I figured if the poor fella had lived that long it was a shame to kill him off, so I let him go. I do have a picture though.” Mark fumbled with his pocket, producing his cell phone and showing them a photo of him with a two-foot fish.

  “He looks like a monster!” Delilah gushed. “It must’ve been a struggle to pull him out of the water.”

  “It wasn’t easy,” Mark admitted. “That summer I caught a three-foot sturgeon—”

  “While Mark is wowing you with his fishing stories, I’m going to take Katie for a spin on the dance floor,” Alex cut in. “Mark, you don’t mind, do you?”

  “No, no, why would I mind?” Mark fumbled with his phone.

  “I want to hear more fishing stories.” Delilah flashed Mark a smile over her shoulder as she followed Alex to the dance floor.

  “Would you like another drink, Trix?” Mark asked, his eyes glued to the phone, no doubt picking the most impressive fishing trophies to boast to Delilah.

  “I’m okay with this one for now.” Ally held up her nearly full glass.

  “I’m sorry.” Mark put his phone away. “Are you having a good time here tonight?”

  “Yes,” Ally assured him. She felt sorry for the guy. Delilah thought nothing of treating men like toys. Most of them, like Mark’s friend Alex, had no problem bouncing back, but Mark seemed to really like Delilah. Ally felt sorry for him, but she also suspected that Mark could be a useful source of information and she was going to milk his wounded state for all she could. “So how do you like working for Orion?”

  “It’s a job.”

  “You don’t sound very enthusiastic about it.”

  Mark rubbed his forehead. “That didn’t come out right. I like my job a lot. I just don’t like the office politics.”

  “Office politics? I thought a company like Orion would be all about results and deliverables. With the kinds of contracts the plant has to satisfy, there doesn’t seem to be much room for office intrigues.”

  “That’s the way it used to be when Peter Langman was the CEO, but ever since he’s brought Steven Wright on board things have been very different. Even someone as low on the totem pole as myself can feel the difference. I spend more time now writing up memos and reports rather than doing actual work. The entire process—which believe me has been running just fine all this time—is now being questioned. Wright is demanding all these efficiency studies to be done, and I hear that he’s going to bring in consults to re-evaluate the entire plant. I just hope that won’t mean layoffs. I’ve already got my resume out, just to be on the safe side.”

  “Wow, and here I was thinking that there are no office politics in engineering. That’s why I chose engineering in college, besides actually liking the idea of creating something tangible.” Her tone was playful, but inside Ally was flooded with memories. She’d wanted to make her own discoveries, just like her father had, and make her own name. Her old dream was gone, but now she had a new one—to stop those who stood in the way of other people’s dreams.

  “I used to think so too, but there are office politics everywhere. It’s human nature. I can only imagine how pissed off Weiss must be.”

  “Why would Weiss be pissed off?”

  “Because up until now he’d always been Langman’s favorite. And in all fairness, he did do a great job as the company COO, even if he was years younger than his peers in the industry. Everyone thought that Langman would choose Weiss as his successor for the CEO role and then Steven Wright came ou
t of nowhere. Sometimes I wonder if Langman might be getting senile.” Mark covered his mouth with his hand, looking over his shoulder. “Don’t tell anyone I said this.”

  Ally laughed. “Your secret is safe with me.”

  Just then Delilah and Alex returned from the dance floor. “I’m parched,” Delilah announced. “How about another drink? A real drink. Tequila shots for everyone.”

  Ally held on to her Bloody Mary. “I’m fine, thank you.”

  “Not on my watch, you’re not.”

  Ally knew better than to argue and quickly shoved the remnants of the beef jerky and cheese into her mouth. If she was going to drink tequila, she needed to at least get some food into her stomach.

  Chapter 9

  “So what do you think about last night?” Delilah asked. They had sneaked out to a nearby coffee shop for their third cup of coffee that morning.

  “I think it was useful,” Ally managed. She had a splitting headache and the coffee wasn’t helping. Tequila and Bloody Marys didn’t mix well.

  “Told you!”

  “But not useful enough to justify the splitting headache I have this morning.”

  “It sounds like there’re lots of changes going on at Orion.”

  “In all fairness we already knew that Steven Wright is the new CEO. I saw it in the papers several weeks ago. It’s not exactly insider information.”

  “No, but the fact that Weiss was passed over for promotion is,” Delilah pointed out.

  “Yes, I guess so. Although why Weiss wouldn’t be happy with his COO job is beyond me. The guy is in his early thirties. I think he’s doing just fine.”

  “Because he’s ambitious, driven, and smart. That’s why.”

  “Not to mention extremely good-looking,” Ally finished off the sentence. “I see someone’s got the hots for the company COO,” Ally teased her friend. Delilah had been giving her crap about Jake forever. Now it was her turn.

  “I don’t have the hots for him. It wouldn’t be professional. But I will say that he is a very attractive man. And you can’t deny that either.”

  “He is attractive and smart,” Ally agreed. “Maybe even too much so. I think it makes him cocky. Overconfidence can be dangerous.”

  “Do you think Weiss could be the mole we’re looking for?” Delilah whispered.

  “At this point I’m not ruling out any possibilities. But I do think it would have to be someone high up the food chain. I don’t think Tian Wang would bother with small fish.”

  “Probably not. But he’d sure have to compensate handsomely to get a senior executive on his payroll. If caught, they’d get fired for sure and probably never get rehired by anyone else.”

  “Probably not. But if it’s someone whose job is already in jeopardy, they might think differently.”

  “You think Weiss is the guy, don’t you?” Delilah frowned.

  “Shhh! Someone might hear you.”

  “No one will hear us. This place is empty.”

  “Exactly. Sometimes walls can have ears.”

  “I think you’re being paranoid. And you’re being unfair to Brad. You only just met him and already you’re blaming him of some horrible conspiracy.”

  “I’m not. I’m just saying that we shouldn’t rule out any possibilities.”

  “Maybe it’s the hangover. You got really hammered last night.”

  “Look who’s talking! As I recall, I wasn’t the one who suggested tequila shots.”

  “Sorry. I got a little carried away. I thought we could get the guys drunk and siphon some more information out of them. Instead, I got you drunk. Hmm, those doughnuts look really good.” Delilah pointed at the counter. “Do you want me to get you one? It’s my peace offering for last night.”

  “Why not? Maybe it’ll make the headache go away.”

  “I’ll be right back.” Delilah headed over to the counter to get the doughnuts and returned a few minutes later. “Here you go.” She placed a plate in front of Ally.

  “Shut up,” Ally murmured.

  “That’s a strange way of saying thank you, but you’re welcome.” Delilah took a bite of her doughnut. Her gaze followed Ally’s and then her mouth gaped open. “What’s Weiss doing here?” she hissed.

  “Probably getting coffee. It’s a coffee shop. I just hope he doesn’t see us. Hanging out here doesn’t exactly make us look like stellar employees.”

  “We’re interns. We’re allowed some slack.”

  “I’d like to see you say it to Weiss’s face,” Ally muttered. “Oh, no. He’s walking to us. Act like we’re discussing something important,”

  “Katherine, Beatrice?” Brad Weiss greeted them in a silky voice. “How do you like your second day at Orion?”

  Ally gulped, thinking of a smart reply, but was too late.

  “We’re just taking a quick break to go over some ideas,” Delilah informed him.

  “Oh, yeah?” Weiss pulled over a chair and sat clown. “What kind of ideas?”

  “We wouldn’t want to impose,” Ally assured him. “You probably have somewhere important you have to be.”

  “I can spare a few minutes. As Peter Langman likes to say, you never know where the next big idea might come from.”

  From the way Weiss’s eyes were glued to Delilah’s legs, Ally gathered that he really didn’t give a hoot about their “ideas.” But they were in a pickle nonetheless.

  “We were just discussing a study we did on Honeywell plant for our term paper this year. Beatrice and I were partners on the paper and we got to go to Honeywell’s plant and all. They really have Dr. Deming’s principles down pat. Six Sigma at its best.”

  “So you’re a fan of Dr. Deming’s? I’m impressed. Some people have the gall to call him a dinosaur, but I think his principles are just as applicable today as they were when Dr. Deming first introduced them.”

  “As do I,” Delilah said importantly.

  Ally barely kept a straight face. She had no idea how Delilah had dug up Dr. Deming’s corpse, but she was sure as heck that Delilah didn’t know much more about him or Six Sigma than the name. Still, it sounded impressive and seemed to be working on Weiss.

  “We were thinking that it would be wonderful if we could get to spend some time at the plant facilities,” Delilah continued. “And perhaps do a study on how Dr. Deming’s principles could be better applied there?”

  Weiss chuckled. “I don’t think you’ll have many things to find as Orion’s team has been a faithful implementer of Six Sigma since the plant’s origination, but you’re welcome to try. I’m always looking for ways to improve on things. I’ll arrange for you both to get passes to the facility.”

  “Excellent. So looking forward to it.”

  “I will see you later, ladies. And I’ll inform Rogers of your new project so that he doesn’t get in the way.” Weiss got up from his chair, and with one last glance at Delilah’s breasts headed for the door.

  “Dr. Deming? How did you come up with that one?”

  “What? I’m not supposed to know who Dr. Deming is? His principles revolutionized the manufacturing world and are widely used today.”

  “With a few modernizations.”

  “Oh, excuse me, Miss Engineering. I may not have a fancy degree, but at least I didn’t spaz out and got us out of this mess. Not to mention that I got us access to the plant facilities, which is vital.”

  “You did good, Delilah. I was just teasing. I have to say that my tongue got stuck to the back of my throat when Weiss came up to our table.”

  “That man oozes charisma,” Delilah sighed. “Hands off, though. He’s mine.”

  “You can have him. But I thought you said it wouldn’t be professional.”

  “A girl can dream, can’t she?”

  As long as it doesn’t interfere with her reality, Ally thought, but bit her tongue.

  ***

  A smile played on Brad Weiss’s lips as he headed for his office. These days he had little to smile about at work, but the two interns had
sure managed to change that. One intern, to be specific. Katherine. He liked saying her name. It was such a feminine, a womanly name, just like its owner. Man, that girl had a body on her! And she had a brain too. Who would’ve thought that a girl who looked like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman would know about Dr. Deming? Brad was truly impressed. He was curious what Katherine would come up with as a result of her study. He could think of a million ways to “study” her. Too bad his fantasies were off limits. First he had to figure out how to get Tian Wang off his back, and he couldn’t forget about Steven Wright either. Brad had given the two interns a green light to get into Orion’s plant precisely for that purpose—he needed an extra pair of eyes on Wright and his consultants. Wright had commissioned McKeenly to perform a study of Orion’s plant, and he’d made it clear that he wanted Brad to stay out of the way. But even with all his clout, Wright didn’t have unlimited power. When it came to interns, the company policy was to engage them in as many educational projects as possible. Brad hoped that the two girls would pepper consultants with questions and at least delay their study long enough for him to figure out what Wright was after.

  When Brad walked into his office he found an envelope on his desk. The envelope had his name typed on it and nothing else; no stamp, no return address. With an inexplicably unpleasant feeling in his stomach, he opened the envelope. It contained one sheet of paper. It didn’t have a date. All it said was:

  Las Vegas, Oleander Casino, Saturday, 1 p.m.

  The note was signed, T. W.

  Brad gulped. He knew that Tian Wang’s silence wouldn’t last for long, but he’d hoped for at least a few more days.

  ***

  Ally and Delilah got back upstairs and crept into their cubicles. They really didn’t have much on their plates for the day. That was, they had plenty of their plates from their real employer, but as Orion’s interns, they didn’t have much to do aside from making copies. And making copies wasn’t going to get them access to the kind of information that the agency was after. At least now they had a way to get into the plant, thanks to Delilah’s quick thinking. The only problem now was that they had to come up with an actual topic for their so-called “study.”