A Counter Attack

"Yeah, that's one of the pitfalls of working in a mega practise, talent is so easily overlooked. This mob have it down to a fine art. It's very much like the music industry, the front man gets the glory while the backup singers and the band, which are so instrumental, no pun intended, to his success, are often overlooked."

"Much as we'd like to stay and talk, we've got to get home."

"Laurinda, I'll call you later, there's something that I need to talk with you about."

"Sure, that's not a problem. I don't suppose you can give me a hint, can you."

"Not here, not now."

"I wonder what that's all about?" I asked as we left, by the front door because Dad was picking us up, given that he'd driven us to work, and our cars were elsewhere.

After half an hour, an impatient Jordan left his hiding place in the car park and returned, fuming, to his father's office. "Well, where do we stand?" He asked his father.

"I think that we should begin by making sure that our arses are covered just in case the pair of them get the idea of taking this matter further. I warned you about the way that you've been treating the women in this office. You've been lucky that none of the previous ones have taken the matter further. You would go and choose the one woman, out of all those that work here, that wasn't overawed by you looks and position. She's also the first that was already in a relationship."

"I wasn't to know that."

"It pays to take note of office gossip."

As soon as we got into Dad's car, Laurinda removed the recorder. "It'll be interesting to hear how much we got. How long does the recording last?"

"The memory card is supposed to last for three hours, why?"

"The best part was at the end. I think we might have an ally on the inside."

"We'll download it onto my computer when we get to the office, then we can spend time analysing the content."

There was almost two and a half hours of conversation, the only bits not recorded were from when I was on my own with Pemberton Senior. Dad was impressed with the final several minutes. "I couldn't have hoped for a better result, I can't see them talking their way out of this."

"So, where do we go from here?" I asked him.

"Now that you're both free agents, I think that you should do some research and see if there are precedents that cover your situations. Look at the conditions of employment, dismissal protocols and reasons for dismissal. Laurinda, I don't suppose that you kept records of Jordan's harassment, did you?"

"You suppose wrong dear almost father. I have kept meticulous records. He, of course will deny any of these incidents, at the very least he'll suffer memory loss."

"Let me read them, not that I doubt your efficiency."

"I should hope not. I think that we should look at their counter strategy. I think that their first effort will be pure bluff, you know, we're bigger and more important than you, we have the finances to wear you down until you come to us begging for mercy. Failing that, I think that they'll call a mediation conference, where they will make some totally inadequate offer of compensation. We, of course will counter with a patently obvious ambit claim. There will be some to-ing and fro-ing before both parties will concede that this process was getting nowhere, and that litigation is the only course of action. They will probably issue their original threat."

"Which we will counter by informing them that, as well as punitive damages for wrongful dismissal, compensatory damages for loss of income, we will also be seeking the recovery of our legal costs."

"Remind me not to get on your dad's wrong side, he knows how to play hardball."

"Right, first things will get you set up here, this office and its facilities will be where you will be working. As well as this, you will be asked to help me make money."

One thing we had forgotten about was Laurinda's car that was still in Pemberton's car park. Arrangements were made with a towing company to collect her keys, pick up her car and transport it to Dad's place.

After dinner we sat and talked about our relationship situation. Mum was happy, as were Laurinda's parents following her phone call to break the news. It took all of ten minutes for them to arrive and join the conversation slash celebrations.

They left just after ten o'clock.

"I guess that I should be getting home then." Laurinda said unconvincingly.

"No, stay here. Chances are that Jordan will be camped on your doorstep, more to the point, you and Tim want to make love, don't deny it."

"Alright we won't" I said.

"Your parents are cool about us, you know, being lovers." Laurinda said as we caught our breaths.

"Yeah, you get used to their observation and willingness to accept the inevitable. That's what makes Dad the good lawyer that he is, he knows when to cut and run."

"That's more than you can say for Jordan, he'll fight to the death rather than admit defeat."

"I think that we'd better stop speaking in cliche and get some sleep." I kissed her and we cuddled ourselves to sleep.

It was mid-morning the next day when the first attempt was made. Laurinda's phone rang. "This is Laurinda, speak to me." She placed it on speaker.

"This is Jordan Pemberton, I need to talk to you."

"So, talk."

"Not on the phone, it needs to be in person."

"Okay, when and where?"

"La Bodega at twelve."

"No, too public, I won't be able to tell you to fuck off with that many people around, most of whom will be your mates. I'd be lucky to get out of there alive."

"So, it's like that is it." He hung up before she could answer.

"Well done." Dad said, "I don't know how he thought that you'd react, but it most certainly wasn't that way."

"What will happen now?" I asked.

"He'll go running off to daddy for further instructions. It's time to fire our first shot. We will lodge a claim for wrongful dismissal on both of your behalf's, along with a sexual harassment claim on your behalf Laurinda. Then we wait for their next move which will most probably be a mediation meeting, which we will attend and stir the pot a little further."

"How?" Laurinda asked.

"By questioning their reasons, and asking for supporting documentation, negative performance appraisals and the like. As they don't have any, they will, knowing Charles Pemberton, attempt to introduce documentation manufactured after your dismissals. I look forward to seeing their faces when we challenge the validity of such documents."

"You know Charles Pemberton?" I asked.

"We were at law school together, we had some of the same classes and, while I gained distinctions, he managed to scrape through as a result of his family's generosity."

"He seems to be doing quite well for someone who only just managed to graduate."

"His father had hit on the right system, only accept wealthy clients and only if the case was win-able, charge fees high enough to keep the riffraff away, and that only the very wealthy can afford him. If there are any concerns about whether he can win, he employs bullying tactics, threatening to drag the case through the courts for so long that, even if his opponents wins, he will lose more money than the judgement amount, all the time collecting his exorbitant fees."

"Yeah, we know about that one." I said.

"Be prepared, after we file, that will be his first reaction, knowing he is on very shaky legal grounds."

"Apart from his lack of anything resembling legal ethics, what have you got against him?" Laurinda asked.

"When we were at law school, there was this girl, I fancied her, she fancied me, he fancied her, she couldn't stand a bar of him. He was, is a sore loser. When we got married, he declared that he would make life miserable for the both of us. He did, but we survived. He is not going to do the same to you two."

"Why did you let me go work for him?" I asked.

"I didn't have a lot of choice, He had first pick of the new graduates and I knew that if you declined the offer, he would have made sure that you didn't get a placement. Look at the positives, if you hadn't taken that job, you would not have met Laurinda here."

"There is that side to it."

"Also, you have a better idea of how he operates and between the three of us we should be able to shaft him big time."

"So, what do we do now?" Laurinda asked.

"I don't know about you two, but we're going to bed." Dad said.

"We get the message," Laurinda said, "I think that I'd better call home and let Mum and Dad know where I am."

The call lasted around ten minutes. "They're happy with the news, Dad said that it was about time. They're thinking about renting out my room. I haven't even moved out, sheesh."

By Monday, we were as prepared as we'd ever be for the confrontation, when it came. We didn't have long to wait. The ink was hardly dry on our claim for wrongful dismissal when we were served with a summons to attend a mediation conference, scheduled for Thursday morning. On Wednesday afternoon we received a package from Courtney containing a list of names of young ladies that had fallen under the spell of Jordan's charms. It also contained witnessed Stat Dec's from most of them, a note telling us to give them heaps, and wishing us luck in our endeavours.

"This is a turn-up for the books and definitely welcome. I don't think that we'll need it just yet, but it's handy to have if needed." Dad said.

There was a decided imbalance at the mediation conference. On one side of the table sat Dad, representing Laurinda and I, Laurinda, and myself. On the other side was Charles and Jordan Pemberton, a couple of silks (Queen's Councils) and Cameron. At the head of the table sat a Magistrate and to his right a clerk with a voice recorder.

"Shall we begin, Mister Burnley, I assume that you are representing the litigants."

"Yes, your Honour, I am representing Timothy Burnley and Laurinda Thomas who both claim that they were wrongly dismissed from Pemberton and Associates. We have written evidence to support their claims."

"Your Honour, I am Thornton Sinclair QC, I represent Charles and Jordan Pemberton in this matter. Charles Pemberton will present evidence that supports their contention that they had a valid reason for dismissing both Timothy Burnley and Laurinda Thomas on the grounds of incompetence."

"Mister Burnley, your evidence?"

"My client, Timothy Burnley, my son, states that he was dismissed by Charles Pemberton on Monday the twelfth. We have here a notarised copy of his letter of resignation lodged on the previous Thursday, the eighth, along with a similarly notarised copy of his most recent performance appraisal that indicates that he was carrying out his duties in an exemplary manner. Laurinda Thomas has provided a similarly notarised copy of her most recent performance appraisal that indicates that she was a similarly diligent employee. There is another, real reason why these two exemplary employees are no longer employed at Pemberton and Associates, these reasons are addressed in claim of sexual harassment levelled against Jordan Pemberton. These matters have been lodged with the relevant authorities and are under investigation, which is why we cannot raise them at this time."

"We have no record of the supposed resignation letter from Timothy Burnley. This must be a forgery." There was a tiny lack of confidence in Sinclair's statement.

Dad passed a copy of my resignation to him. "If you read that, you will note that the reason that he gave for his resignation was that his fiancé, Laurinda Thomas, had been selected by Jordan Pemberton as his new assistant. She did not want to work with Jordan Pemberton. My client chose to support her decision. Her reasons are also addressed in her sexual harassment claim."

"That's her word against his, she has no evidence."

"On the contrary, we do have evidence, but that is also sub-judice." Jordan looked as if he was just about to lose it,

"She had no valid reason to reject what was viewed as an honour to be chosen to Work with Jordan." Charles said.

"She had every reason, given his history of only keeping his assistants for a short time before dismissing them. She was looking for more stability in her employment. She had that stability in her former role."

"There is no truth to those rumours. The reason that those previous assistants were fired was because they used their position as my assistant to promote themselves as better than the other girls. I couldn't have that, it was not conducive of creating a harmonious workplace."

Time to stir things up, Dad looked directly at Jordan. "So, the intervention by your wife had nothing to do with it, the fact that she resented your affairs with these girls had nothing to do with it?"

"That's a lie!" Jordan was on his feet, leaning over the table, "She didn't know anything about it." He suddenly realised that he had fallen into the trap and sat down.

"I think that we've achieved all that we can in this conference, I see no option but to continue with the litigation." Dad said, looking directly into Charles Pemberton's eyes in an open challenge.

"We welcome the challenge Mister Burnley, you will have a fight on your hands, a fight that you cannot win."

Dad's gaze didn't falter. "I won the last one, or had you forgotten."

"Bastard." Charles was not happy.

"I agree with Mister Burnley, we cannot achieve anything more here." The magistrate stacked his folders and stood.

"Round one to us." Dad said. "Now we must prepare for an onslaught from them, they sure as hell won't take this minor defeat lying down. We must ensure that the office is protected, so to our house and Laurinda's." He looked at Laurinda. "Can you ring your parents and explain the situation and warn them to take the necessary precautions. I have a feeling that Pembertons will look on them as being the softest option."

Laurinda took out her phone and was soon talking to her father. "Dad, you know that I've declined Jordan's offer to work for him? Well Tim supported me and we've both been fired. The good part is that we're both now working for Tim's dad, that's the good part. The not so good part is that we've filed for wrongful dismissal and I've also lodge a complaint of sexual harassment against Jordan. We've just won the first round. The problem is that Pembertons are not going to take this lying down. Tim's dad has suggested that you take precautions in case they target you and Mum. I think that you should have a word to Uncle Pete and see if he can help. Great, see ya tonight, Tim and I are inviting ourselves over for dinner." She looked at Dad and me. "Uncle Pete's a cop, a high-ranking cop."

We hadn't gone far when Laurinda announced. "We've got a tail." She had her phone on hands free. "Dad, have you spoken to Uncle Pete? Great, we're on our way over and have picked up a tail, it's a dark coloured Toyota Camry. "We'll drive past your place and you can get the rego number and trace it. We'll circle the block and come back, get the welcome mat out, and tell Uncle Pete thanks." She looked at me, "Uncle Pete's there now, he and Aunt Jan are having dinner with us."

Our welcome was not what I would have expected. "Are you guys crazy? Taking on the Pembertons can only lead to disaster." Uncle Pete said as soon as we walked through the door.

"Don't worry, we have the best legal team behind us."

"And who are these miracle workers?"

"Us, we, that's Tim and me, are now working for his dad."

"And who is his dad?"

"Burnley Legal."

"Okay, that's good."

My phone rang. "Tim speaking." I put it on speaker.

"Tim, it's Cameron, Look, I've been asked to follow you and tell them where you are. They've fitted a GPS tracker to my car, so they know where I am. What am I going to do?"

"How much fuel do you have?" I asked.

"Not a lot, what do you have in mind?"

"Drive as far as you can, head out of town, when you run out of fuel call them and tell them what has happened and that you've lost us. They'll probably have a hissy fit and tell you how stupid you are. Call us and we'll come running with fuel and someone who can remove the tracker and chuck it into the bushes so it won't move."

"Okay, take care the two of you."

Pete's phone rang, "You don't need to tell me, the car belongs to Cameron Bennett. It doesn't matter how I know, just stand by, I'll need you to get some fuel to him and remove a GPS tracker, no don't destroy it just chuck it into the shrubbery."

"I think that's taken care of round two." Dad said.

"It will probably get worse before it gets better." Uncle Pete said.

Mum and Aunt Jan arrived, plates of food in hand. Dad got a bottle of wine and dispensed drinks for all of us.

Laurinda and I told of what we had been through over the past week, including our engagement, this resulted in a bottle of bubbles appearing before we got down to where we stood at present.

"I seem to recall that here have been a couple of harassment complaints levelled against young Jordan Pemberton. These never made it to court, the girls having been well compensated for their silence, so it would appear as if this has been a pattern of behaviour for some time."

"Do you think that you could dig up the names of the girls in question, we, and they might benefit from us having a chat."

"I'll see what I can do and let you know how I get on."

Uncle Pete and Aunt Jan left at around eleven, so we all went to bed, Laurinda and I in her bed.

"I have a good feeling..."

"What about?" My exploration of her body had just arrived at leg junction.

"That for starters, no I'm a lot more confident that we will win. Mate, I need something more substantial than your finger."

"Happy to oblige." Finger withdrawn and rampant cock inserted.

"That's better." She said between kisses. "We're going to have to start thinking about when we're going to get married and where we will live. While I don't see a problem with living with either of our parents, I would like to have a place of our own, then I won't have to suppress the urge to tell the world how much I love this, love you."

"If I kiss you at the right time, it will muffle the sound."

"The neighbours mightn't hear it, but Mum and Dad will."

"Do they have a problem with that?"

"No."

My mouth covered hers for at least a minute until she came down from her orgasm. It wasn't long after that, that we were both asleep.

"Now that you're engaged you will have to give some serious thought the planning the wedding." Her mother said over breakfast.

"We're not in any rush." Laurinda said.

"If what we heard last night is any indication, you'd better be sure of your birth control, or you start giving it some thought.

"We need to get this mess sorted before we can concentrate on the future." I said.

"So, how long do you think this will take?" Her Dad asked.

"That depends on Pembertons next move."

"I think that you should keep nudging it along, keep them confused. They're more likely to make a mistake that you can use to your advantage."

"I'm sure that Dad will be thinking along those lines, if not, he soon will be. We've got to get to work, the practise is not confined to this case."

We'd only just arrived at work when we had a visitor, Courtney. "You guys have really stirred the pot, Pembertons are in an uproar after what happened last night. Cameron got fired, it seems as if they were unhappy about him finding the GPS tracker and tossing it in the bush. I invented a doctor's appointment so I could slip out and come here. I won't be going back. I've come to fill you in on all that has happened since I started, including the fact that I've been Charles' mistress for over five years. It began when he promised that he was going to divorce his wife and marry me. I am now ready to tell him that I'm tired of waiting for that to happen. If you think that you're good at putting a cat amongst the pigeons, you ain't seen nothing yet."