Audit Surprise Ch. 01

"Marty," Jackie said looking me square in the eyes. "We're a team, more than that we're friends. Friends don't let friends in trouble go it alone. We're going to help you. Whatever you want to do we'll do it, short of murder that is."

Mandy turned to me and said, "She's right Marty. Right now you're hurting and probably feel like you want to die but the one thing I know for sure is that as long as you have friends you have hope. You will survive. Whatever you decide to do we'll be right beside you the whole way. We'll help you. You just need to lead us like you always do. Tell us what you want and we'll make it happen."

Silence filled the room as I thought about what I wanted. The one thing I wanted, no needed most was to know how much trouble my marriage was in. I needed to know everything Sheryl was hiding from me. Then I could decide on a path. Until then I would have to suffer with the devastating images my mind conjured up. But the image of her middle finger pointing at the phone was devastating enough.

"I need to know," I said finally. "I need to know everything: Who she's been with, how long, how many times, what she's done, everything. The one answer I need the most and probably won't ever get is why. Why did she do this to me? Is there something wrong with me, something I can't give her?"

"Don't start blaming yourself," Adrianna said. "You don't know if anything's your fault. For myself I can say for all the years I've known you, you've been the perfect gentleman and friend. I don't know what's going on but by God we're going to get to the bottom of it. And if it doesn't turn out like you want then you always have us to help you through it. We will always be there for you Marty."

"Guys, we need to make some plans," Mandy said to the group. "Red, Yan, and Jackie, you three think of ways to find out anything from where she works. She's doing it there so we need to know more from that angle. Adrianna and I will try to figure out the non-work related stuff. Brainstorm some ideas and let's get back together at four o'clock. Marty, you go down to my office and lie on the couch. I want you to relax. I want you away from that telescope for the rest of the day. You've seen enough. I'll have someone spot check things from here."

I went to Mandy's office and laid down on the couch. All I could think about was Sheryl with her legs spread and some guy's fingers pumping in and out of her pussy. Mostly the image of her giving the phone, and me, the finger burned brightly in my mind.

At four o'clock Yan stuck her head in the room and said everyone was meeting in my office. I always liked Yan. She's always been a bit on the quiet side but when she said something everyone took notice. For being only 24 years old she had an aura of maturity about her that seemed way beyond her years. She also has an IQ way off the charts. Her Asian heritage gave her an enigmatic air that made her seem both becoming and approachable while at the same time aloof and mysterious. She took my hand and walked down the corridor with me.

With everyone back in their original seats Adrianna led the gathering and took notes. I thought it strange that she took notes about plans to invade my wife's privacy and open up her hidden side, but I didn't say anything. Mostly everybody talked around me. I just sat and listened. When the meeting was over and the plan formulated, each person went off to do the tasks assigned, just like any of the audits we've done in the past. All I had to do was what I usually did, sit down and look busy and give up my credit card for supplies.

"Marty, can you go home tonight?" Mandy asked.

"I don't think I can face her," I mumbled through my fingers. "I think I'll just stay here until after she goes to bed and then crawl home. Hopefully I won't have to talk her tonight. I can't trust myself. I might say something I don't want to."

"Can you go out of town on a business trip?" she asked.

"Maybe, I'll have to think about it. I don't want to be around her this weekend so I'll have to come up with some excuse to be out of the house. Maybe my father can have an accident or something. I'll think about it and let you know."

"If you need a place to stay for a few days you can always come over to my house. We've got a guest room you can use. I'll tell Aaron and the kids and warn them you might be visiting."

I stared through the telescope at an empty office for the longest time. The whole movie played over and over in my head allowing me to relive the pain multiple times. I left the office after nine and drove the long way home arriving home after ten. Luckily Sheryl was already asleep. As quietly as I could I got my clothes ready for the next day and took a shower. Sheryl never moved. I guess she was tired from all the activities at the office today. I went to the guest room and pulled the covers over my head.

I was up before dawn and on the road before Sheryl awoke. I couldn't face her knowing what I knew. I just had to figure out how to survive. I arrived at my Landmass office before everyone and put on a pot of coffee. Once in my office I looked at the telescope like it was a demon. I was afraid to go near it. Around nine o'clock I wandered down the hall to see what my team was up to. Yan was at her computer doing something that I didn't understand. She smiled at me when I poked my head in the door.

"Where is everybody?" I asked.

"Getting ready," she said with a smile turning back to her computer. Inscrutable those Asians I thought walking back to my desk.

Just after ten o'clock Red came into the office pushing several large boxes on a dolly. I watched as he set about his work without a single word to me. Red is a walking contradiction. To look at him you would see a tall, red-headed string bean of a man, freckly face with out of date glasses. He looked like every stereotypical geek we've ever met wearing a Star Trek shirt. He often wore a Star Trek shirt and an Indiana Jones fedora but that was only part of his charm. Away from the office he was anything but a geek. I heard he was an avid mountain climber whose goal was to one day hike Mount Everest. He also sped around the countryside on his two year old Ducati motorcycle. Red may look like a geek but in his heart he was an adventurer. When he realized I was sitting there he waved at me and set about opening the boxes and setting up the equipment. It turned out to be another telescope but this one was more modern and instead of looking through the eyepiece you looked at a computer monitor. The resolution was better too. When he focused it on Sheryl's computer I could clearly read everything on the screen. She was working on her email. It didn't contain anything important, just Enterprise business.

Without ever looking up, Red spoke from the computer console attached to the telescope. "As soon as Yan gets finished her side of things we won't need to look through the window to see what's on your wife's computer. By this afternoon we'll be firmly entrenched in their server network and have access to everything they have. We'll be able to snoop around and look for things as well as control any and every computer they have. We can copy all of their incoming and outgoing traffic as well. You may not know this but Yan was the best hacker UCLA ever produced." Red busied himself with setting up another computer with a giant 60 inch monitor. He didn't say what the large screen's purpose was but I had my suspicions. Just before he left he placed a big red button on my desk and stood there smiling.

"Press it," he said.

When I did all of the computer screens around the room flashed to show diagrams and spreadsheets of Landmass' computer systems and their accounting systems.

"If anybody comes in who doesn't know what we're doing, like Landmass management, just press the red button and everything changes over to what you see now. It's like a screen saver but with Landmass data on the displays. It's all bullshit but it'll look like we're doing the audit we're supposed to be doing." He smiled and left.

Adrianna and Mandy showed up just before lunch and sat down at the telescope computer. They maneuvered the telescope around and had a great view of Sheryl's office on the display. A few minutes later a man walked into the office. It wasn't the same man as the day before. This guy was older and had white hair and a considerable paunch. I just watched the screen hoping upon hope that he wasn't there for the same foot massage. Mandy looked over at me.

"Marty, maybe you should go down to my office for a little while," she said with concern in her voice. "You might not want to watch if things happen like yesterday. I don't want your blood pressure to go through the roof again."

I didn't say a word. I just got up and left the room.

An hour later Mandy came in the room and sat down beside me at her computer where I was playing blackjack. She put her arms around my chest and her head on my shoulder. I could tell she was hurting.

"Mandy, I both don't want to know and I need to know. Did anything happen?"

Mandy nodded her head 'yes' against my shoulder.

My heart was starting to beat faster and the pain returned, but I had to know.

"What?" I asked quietly.

She sniffed and sat up looking at me. I could tell making eye contact was difficult for her. She sniffed again and then softly said, "Blowjob."

It was like someone hit me in the chest with a hammer. One word and I was a quivering mass again. One simple fucking word.

"Marty, we recorded everything. Red set everything up so we can record what goes on in case you need it in the future, maybe for a lawyer or something. I suggest you don't watch it. It'll only hurt you more than you already are. Come on; let's get you something to drink."

Mandy took my hand and guided me back to my office, now resembling more of a modern day war room than a 1930's mausoleum. The big 60 inch monitor now displayed 40 different smaller screens showing corridors, offices, doorways, and the like. I just stood there staring.

"That's a display of the security cameras on the 20th through the 24th floors across the street," Yan said coming up beside me. "We can see just about everywhere in their offices, everywhere except the bathrooms, and a number of the upper manager's offices. And we can control everything from this monitor, zooming in on one particular camera or series of cameras. We can even record everything or just selected cameras. Pretty cool huh?"

"Uh, yeah," I said not knowing what else to say.

"Come look at this boss," Red said from the other side of the room. I went over and stood behind him. He was sitting back with his arms crossed smiling. "You're watching your wife working on her computer. This is a slave attached to her system and when her computer is turned on we can see everything she does. Right now she's writing someone requesting the cost of the microchips used in their robotic control arms. No biggie. As we watch this I'm downloading every email she either sent or received in the last five years. She keeps her schedule on her computer and has it synched up with her smart phone. I haven't looked at it yet but it might be important later on so I copied it over too. I can do the same thing to any computer they have over there. Their security sucks big time!"

I went back over to my desk and sat down not knowing what else to do. A few minutes later my cell phone rang.

"Shush, everybody quiet," Red yelled. "Go on boss."

"Hello?"

"Hi Honey, it's me," Sheryl said. I immediately moved over to the telescope monitor console and saw Sheryl sitting at her desk holding the phone to her ear. She was alone.

"Hey there. What's up?"

"You worked pretty late last night. I didn't have a chance to cuddle up next to you in bed. I was just calling to tell you how much I missed you. Are you going to be late again tonight?"

I couldn't face her yet. My head was still swimming with thoughts about what was going on, how long, what she did, and the like. I had to lie to her, just like she's been lying to me. "Probably. This audit is turning out to be a real bear. We've got an incredibly short deadline and it's going to take a lot of work to make it. Everybody's working their asses off around here. And, to top it all off I got a call from my father. He's having some problems with his plumbing again. I might have to go up there this weekend and snake out his pipes. Sorry."

"Ah well, I was hoping for a little one on one time with you tonight. I bought a new outfit last weekend and haven't had a chance to try it out. I was going to dress up this weekend and let you be the first to do the undressing. It's everything I know that turns you on. It's sheer but looks like your average little black dress, short as hell with a plunging neckline down to my navel, and it only takes one finger to unsnap it so it falls around my ankles. I also bought a matching black thong from Victoria's Secret. Oh well, your loss. Maybe next weekend."

"Sounds nice. Sorry I'm going to miss it. Maybe next weekend we can plan on going somewhere special to show it off."

"Absolutely not! It's not something I'd ever wear in public. It's just for you, for your eyes only."

"Okay, I got it. I tell you what. Why don't you go ahead and make reservations at the Hyatt for next weekend and we'll go and pamper ourselves at the spa and have dinner at the Sorbonne Steak House. Afterwards I can unwrap my present."

"Oooohhh, that sounds nice. I'll see if I can make reservations for one of their suites. I want to try something with you in the Jacuzzi that I read about in a magazine. It has to do with the water jets. It sounded yummy."

"I'm looking forward to it. I'll make sure everything I have to do is done by next Friday and I'll call you from my father's to let you know when I'll be home."

"Okay, sounds like a plan. Love you. Bye."

"Bye." I couldn't make myself say 'Love you' back. I watched as she put the phone back in its cradle but this time she didn't give the phone the finger. What was different about this phone call I wondered? Then it hit me, she wasn't with somebody, she wasn't having sex with somebody. What did all that mean?

"TA DA!" Jackie stood in the doorway with her hands above her head like she just kicked the game winning field goal in the Super Bowl. "Somebody bring up the second camera partition. Here boss, catch." She tossed something my way and instinctively I reached out and caught it. It was my keys.

"What are you doing with my keys?" I asked.

"Just got finished wiring your house for pictures and sound. Anything that goes on there will be recorded here." She stood pointing at a computer monitor that displayed my kitchen. "Every room in your house, including your bathroom, has a camera in it. Neat huh?"

"Yeah neat," I replied sadly.

Everybody worked at various computers for the rest of the day. I guess they were dividing their time between monitoring Sheryl and getting the audit done. At least I hoped they were working on the audit. One by one they said goodnight and disappeared out the door. The last one to leave was Mandy.

"Listen Marty, go out and get something to eat," she said standing in front of my desk. "Don't drink too much but do whatever you need to do to get your mind off of everything. Maybe take in a movie. Tomorrow's Friday and I'll be in here early to finish up my part of the audit. Get away from here this weekend and think about what you want to do. We'll all get together Monday and talk. Just remember, you aren't in this by yourself, you have friends. Goodnight."

When she left I sat and thought. I considered all the options. I even wrote the possible ways of handling the situation on a piece of paper, and the pros and cons of each. I wanted to handle it like every other audit I've ever done but the emotional baggage was just too much. In the end I left the paper on the desk and left.

I got home at midnight. I took Mandy's advice and went out and had a nice dinner, but I wasted my money. I just couldn't eat all of the steak I ordered. When I got home Sheryl was asleep again so I gathered up clothes for Friday and the weekend, showered quietly, and slept in the guest bedroom. Again I was out of the house before she woke in the morning. Trying to avoid the woman who had been my whole life up until two days ago was difficult, both physically and emotionally.

I watched Sheryl come into her office through the telescope. She had her usual coffee and bagel and the first thing she did was look at her daily schedule. I could see clearly marked at noon the words 'All Four.' I hadn't a clue what that meant but knew it wasn't good. For the last two days at lunch time she'd had sex with one of her coworkers so whatever 'All Four' meant probably signaled the end of my marriage. Today I decided to endure the pain and watch whatever she had planned, in spite of the objections of my team.

I got the team together for a few minutes when the last one straggled in.

"Guys, I've got to talk to you," I started off the meeting. "I can't take this much longer so I've made a couple decisions. Decisions are what I'm supposed to do around here so I'm trying to earn my pay. First, regardless of what goes on over there today I'm going to sit at the monitor and watch. I would prefer to be alone because I might not handle it very well but I also don't want you calling 911 for me again. So, decide which one of you will babysit me during lunch. Second, this weekend I'm going to come to grips with everything and decide on a course of action. Right now it's not looking too good for Sheryl and me but I don't know exactly what I want to do. Whatever it is I may need your help. You offered so I'm taking you up on it. But if the shit hits the fan I want you as far away from me as possible. There's no way you're going to get hurt by the fallout of my marriage. There's no discussion on this, this is how it's going to be. Third, I want the audit to be finished by next Friday and every bit of this equipment out of here."

Everybody went back to their desks and left me alone. Every so often I'd look up at the telescope monitor to see what Sheryl was doing. The closer to noon it got the more nervous I got. When I looked up around 11:30 she was gone.

"Marty, I'm here to be your babysitter," Mandy said as she closed and locked my door. "Everybody wanted to do it but I shouted the loudest. Everybody's here for you, in spirit."

It made my heart feel good knowing there were people out there that would go the extra mile to help a friend. I only hope I could be as good a friend should they ever need me.

I looked up when I saw movement on the telescope monitor and saw Sheryl come back into view. However she had changed her clothes. She was now wearing the little black dress she described to me over the phone yesterday. She was right too, it was absolutely stunning and something I wouldn't want her to wear out in public. Her long blond hair cascaded down her shoulders covering the top of the dress where it went behind her neck. It was a halter top style that attached behind her head with two pieces of material that went down from each side, covering her breasts, joining at her navel. The insides and outsides of her breasts were clearly visible since the material covering them was only a couple inches wide as it passed over the tops. And the dress was as short as she said. It came to about mid-thigh and was sheer enough to see the outline of the thong she wore underneath. The thong had to be the one she got from Victoria's Secret. She said the outfit was for me but she lied again. She was wearing it for a coworker.

Mandy reached over and took my hand in hers. I could feel her tremble as we sat there watching Sheryl primping and brushing her hair, waiting. Waiting for whom? Who was she going to have sex with this time? All at once Sheryl turned toward her office door. All we could see was the back of her now but I could tell by her body language that she enjoyed what she saw. She held her arms out greeting her lover. As I watched in shock she put her arms around one man, the man who finger fucked her the other day, and gave him a passionate kiss. Another man came into view and when the two lovers broke their kiss she wrapped her arms around the second man's neck and kissed him. Then a third appeared waiting his turn in Sheryl's arms. And then a fourth. Now I knew the meaning of 'All Four' in her appointment book. I sat there watching my wife, and the woman I love, kissing four of her coworkers.