"Stop the car," she demanded.
Max screeched to a halt, and Jackie got out. The last thing she saw of her husband was the back of his head as he sped away, going straight toward the lab, where he expected to find Hensley working on Sunday as usual.
Jackie caught a cab back to their apartment and began packing a few clothes, though she hadn't given a thought to where she would take them. She was just packing her toothbrush and toilet articles when the phone rang.
"Jackie? This is Pris. What's going on over there?"
Jackie brought her friend up to date on what had happened, sparing no detail of the abrupt, angry parting with Max. Pris agreed that she could have done little else, given Max's insistence on making a fool of himself and broadcasting the intimate details of their life.
"Perhaps you're wishing now that you'd never taken the steps that led you to that party," she said to Jackie.
"Never! I enjoyed every bit of it," Jackie insisted. "In fact, I think it was the most wonderful thing that's ever happened to me!"
She herself hadn't realized how strongly she felt about it until that very moment. She was surprised to find herself saying it, but knew it was true.
"I'm glad to hear that," Pris purred softly. "But where are you going? You said you were packing."
Jackie had to admit that she had no idea where she might go. She apologized for seeming silly, but stated that the thought of spending another moment with Max, was simply unthinkable. When Pris suggested that she come and stay with them, at least until she could get herself settled in a new place, Jackie accepted the offer immediately, and Pris told her Hal would he over within half an hour to pick her up.
***
"That's that," Pris said to her husband when she put down the phone. "Maybe our scheme for getting the information didn't work out so well, but how's this for a consolation prize? We're going to have, a permanent live-in guest for a while! Just think, darling, another pussy for you to fuck! And she as much as said once that she was interested in learning more about my little lezzie games, too!"
"You can't beat that," Hal agreed. "Even if we lost the battle, we won the war. Or maybe the other way around; I don't know. Look, I'll call Gene and tell him the scheme's going to fall through, just to break it easy to him. Who'd have thought that Max would be so damn stubborn?"
Hal made his call, and informed Harris that the plan had failed. They commiserated with each other, but agreed that there was no use crying over battles hopelessly lost. Hal mentioned that he knew of another likely candidate in the Walton labs who might be worth cultivating, but said they could put off the briefing until tomorrow.
"See you at the plant," he said before hanging up.
He then left to go get Jackie. Pris remained behind, and fell to work straightening up the guest room, as well as fluffing out her shining hair. She hummed a gay tune as she visualized Jackie's lush naked body writhing on the silken bedspread, pleading for release; she imagined herself administering the oral stimulation which would propel Jackie's body into a heaving, twisting inferno of orgasmic splendor. Yes, the future looked promising indeed!
***
Max found Dr. Hensley hard at work, just as he'd expected. His fury hadn't abated one bit, and the entire grubby story came tumbling out in a gush. Hensley listened patiently and compassionately to the entire tale, and when he'd convinced himself that Max hadn't compromised their work, he congratulated him for his loyalty and commiserated with him on the loss of his wife.
"Do you think she's gone for good?" he asked.
"Yes. She's the sort who'll stick to a stand once she's taken it," Max answered. "And if she's that interested in preserving her precious reputation, than I guess it wouldn't have worked out in the long run anyway."
"Very well," Hensley told him, "I'll see to it that you don't regret having used good judgment in this matter. It happens that there'll be a research coordinator's post coming open shortly; it would be a nice promotion for you, and I can't think of a better man for the job. And by the way, you'll be needing some lab assistants and a deputy for that job, so you might be thinking about who you'd like for your team."
Max's head was reeling as he left Hensley's laboratory-office. He hadn't expected that his faithful adherence to the company's interest would be rewarded at all, much less so handsomely, and especially since it had been his own stupidity that had created the problem to start with!
As he walked back to his portion of the laboratory, his eye fell on a generous length of very shapely nylon-clad calf; he traced the gentle curve up to where it ended at a white lab coat, and then looked up.
"Myra!" he blurted. "You're not usually here on Sundays, are you?"
The girl turned to look it him, and Max realized that she was exceedingly attractive. The cunning knit minidress she wore under the lab coat was a far cry from the serviceable tweed outfits she usually wore during the week. She had also done her hair differently; long auburn bangs now framed her face handsomely, and gave her a quite dashing look. Myra Long, whom he had always considered a mere drudge, though a capable engineer, took on a new aura of beauty for him.
"I was getting ready to go out for dinner," she explained, "and I got this idea I wanted to try out. But it didn't work, I guess. I'm about ready to pack it all in."
"Good idea," he agreed. "Suppose we have dinner together. We've got a lot to talk about, I suspect."
Myra walked out of the I lab with him, and as he accompanied her to the parking lot, Max told himself he just might have found that assistant that Hensley had mentioned, as well as a replacement for Jackie. There was no denying Myra's capabilities in the lab, and now that he'd seen her in a different light, there was a promising lilt to her impudently rising breasts, a devilish glint in her dark eyes.
"Yes," he told himself, everything might just be coming up roses after all.