Miss Match

"Why?"

"I like the way they look and feel," she said. "Do you want to see them?"

"Um, not right now. Not here."

Frida flicked her left nipple a few times with her middle finger. As it swelled against her dress, the outline of the barbell ornament became visible.

"There is your proof, Mr. Professor. What about you?"

"I don't have any piercings," he replied. "I do have a tattoo, though."

"I don't believe you."

Aaron rolled up his left sleeve and showed her the inside of his forearm. The tattoo was of a serpent coiled into an infinity symbol.

"And there is your proof, Miss Skeptical."

"Now I'm the one who's surprised," she said, reaching over to touch his arm. "When did you get this?"

"When I entered graduate school. The serpent is the ancient symbol for knowledge and wisdom. The infinity symbol is, well, mathematical. They seemed complementary. I got it to remind me why I chose this profession."

"I'm impressed. I should have expected something like this."

Aaron wasn't exactly sure what she meant. It was time to try and resolve his doubts.

"Frida, have we previously met? I have the feeling I know you from somewhere."

"No, I don't think so."

"Maybe last fall?"

"Not that I recall," she said, nervously mixing the wasabi and soy sauce.

"That's it! It was last fall, at the Computer Science department colloquium. I gave a lecture on applied mathematics. You were there."

"You are mistaken."

"No, I'm sure of it now. I was lecturing about heuristic analysis as applied to antivirus detection algorithms. After the lecture, you asked me if there was any connection between viral signatures and database hashing functions or search engines."

Frida remained silent. Aaron had nearly cemented his suspicions about her identity.

"After you left, I wanted to ask you another question," she whispered. "I had a special project I was working on. I ran outside, but you had already climbed into your wife's car."

"That wasn't my wife. She was my girlfriend."

"I know."

"Sharon and I broke up three weeks ago."

"I know."

"Have you been stalking me?" Aaron's voice deepened with irritation.

"Observing, not stalking," she countered. "Everything I know about you is from public observation and records."

He hesitated, not sure if he should press her further.

"Are you Psyche?" he whispered.

"Psycho? Some people think I'm crazy, but I'm not a psychopath."

"No, not psycho. Pysche. The FOP dot-com hacker. You set this whole thing up, didn't you?"

Frida stared at him with those haunting eyes. She seemed to be genuinely fearful of exposition. Aaron felt his anger subside as her expression softened into a whimsical smile.

"It's time to go dancing," she said. "I will make time for your questions later."

*

~ The Entry ~

Standing near the head of the line, Frida pulled two tickets from her purse. This was a CD release party for Leisure Birds, a local band, so a big crowd was expected.

"We're still a little early," Aaron commented, looking at his watch.

"The club is small. If you want a table upstairs, you have to get here early," she replied.

At nine-thirty, they opened the doors. Frida made a bee-line for the stairs and up to the balcony. Aaron quickly followed. She had claimed the farthest table, in the darkest corner.

"I thought you wanted to be on the railing?" he asked. "You can't see the band from back here."

"Silly boy. You watch the band from the main floor. You know, moshing. We come up here to rest. This is our sanctuary."

"Oh, I see. I need to get out more often."

"It's okay. I'll guide you." She rubbed his arm.

They sat down in the dark recesses of the club and hailed the cocktail waitress. In a place like this, drinks were always served in plastic cups. They opted for a locally brewed beer.

At ten-fifteen, the Leisure Birds thundered to life. Frida took his hand to guide him through the balcony exodus. There were about 200 bodies crammed onto the floor, swaying and jostling one another. She stood in front of him, bumping and grinding to the beat.

When the band started playing their big hit, a surge of humanity carried them towards the stage. Barely able to move, he could not escape the mass grope-fest unfolding around him. Behind him, an unseen female was leaving boob prints on his back. To his left, some guy was trying to put his hand inside another guy's pants. In front of him, Frida was swaying back and forth with her hands in the air. When he tried to work his right hand around her waist, she pulled it up to her breast and held it against herself. Her butt was now chafing the front of his jeans as he squeezed her boob and fondled her barbell.

Suddenly, everyone around him screamed and raised their hands. It was not for the band, but rather to catch a body hurtling towards them from above. The crowd surfing had begun. As he passed the young man over his head, he lost track of Frida. Looking around frantically, he tried to see in which direction she had drifted off. Unable to find her, he began pushing his way out of the mosh pit.

Aaron finally escaped and returned to the balcony. He scanned the main floor from the railing, searching for her and catching his breath. He didn't see her anywhere.

"Hey, are you okay?" Frida asked, resting her hand on his back.

"There you are," he exhaled. "I lost track of you."

"I should have warned you. It can get pretty crazy out there."

"It wasn't too bad until the surfing started. I liked dancing with you, though. That was fun."

"Let's take a break," she said. "Then we can go dance some more."

Another beer quenched their thirst. They returned to the main floor, but this time Frida steered them past the fray to a dark corner behind the bar. Aaron surmised that this must be the lover's quarter; there was a wholly different style of moshing practiced here. Frida began to dance again, just like before. Twisting and swaying, she backed him up into the wall.

As she grazed her tush against him, her tight dress steadily crept higher, exposing her buttocks. Aaron had already received his invitation, so he slipped his hands inside her halter and pulled her close to him. Groaning in response, she reached behind and found his denim-covered erection, straining to get free.

Crazed with lust, she spun around and slammed into him, gluing her lips against his. As she probed his mouth with her tongue, he plowed his fingers into her ass, squeezing and crushing her against him.

"Dance with me," she hissed into his ear. "Give me your leg."

Aaron pushed his right leg forward and she lowered herself down, grinding against the top of his thigh. With her arms on his chest and her head on his shoulder, she rode him to the beat of the pounding drums.

No longer aware of his surroundings, he was completely focused on feral creature in front of him. Even though he was currently just a fixture, he was worried that his own excitement might get the best of him. To control himself, he focused his mind on the rate of her breathing, her gyrating hips, and the dragon fly fluttering against his chest. The sweet smell of perfume and fresh sweat filled his nostrils as her dance intensified.

A guttural cry filled his ear when her performance came to a shuddering halt. Her thighs rhythmically constricted his leg and her fingernails dug into his shoulders. With each subsequent spasm, her breathing edged closer to normal. Finally, Frida reached down between her legs and slid a finger inside of her panties. As she dismounted him, she wiped that finger on his upper lip.

"Meet me upstairs," she rasped, pulling her dress back down over her hips and thighs. "I'll be right back."

Speechless, Aaron followed her progress towards the restroom. He suddenly became aware of the people around him and the persistent ache in his pants. To his left, two women were watching him, hugging and caressing each other. He stood up straight and arranged himself as best he could. As he waddled off towards the stairs, one of the women said, "You lucky bastard."

~~~~~

Upon reaching the sanctuary, Aaron chugged his beer and tried to catch his breath. Never before had he been used in such a wantonly aggressive manner. When the cocktail waitress came by, she took his order, giving him a knowing wink.

Eventually, Frida returned, looking somewhat disheveled. She cuddled up next to him and nibbled his ear.

"That was incredible," he said. "What the hell was that?"

"Foreplay. We're just getting started."

She reached again for his cock, but he gently pushed her hand away.

"We should leave," he said. "I've had enough public sex for one night."

"I suppose you're right. What I want needs to be done privately."

"Before we go, will you answer my question? I'd like to know what I'm getting myself into."

Frida sat up and sipped her beer.

"Well, if you play your cards right, you'll be getting into me. All of me; in every possible way."

"I want that, too," he replied. "But that's not what I'm asking about."

"Alright. I owe you an explanation." She straightened her dress and put her drink on the table. "Yes, it's true. I am Psyche and I hacked the computers at FOP dot-com."

"But why? You could have just looked up my number and called me."

"Don't be naive, this isn't about you. You're my cover story; my alibi."

"I don't understand," he said.

"Just listen. Don't interrupt. Finis Dumas stole the client matching algorithms from me and the other analysts and programmers. Of course, he paid us, but he plagiarized our work. He stole our source code and inserted his own name as the author. Then, he presented our work as his own at a major computing conference. That's like stealing a bestselling book and claiming you are the author. It's wrong, and it's illegal."

"That's unconscionable."

"We confronted him about it, but he said to 'piss off', otherwise he'd just fire all of us. We attempted to bring it up with the board of directors, but they weren't interested in the day-to-day operation of FOP. All they saw were dollar signs from client sales. So I decided to do something about it."

"Hacking into the system?"

"Not per se, I was already inside. I found out about your viral heuristics lecture last fall from a colleague. After sitting in, I realized I could add some innocuous code into the system that wouldn't be detectable and could mess up the matching algorithm. No client would lose any personal data or be out any money. It would look like a simple mix up, but FOP would lose some serious revenue. That would get the attention of the board. Then, we could present our plagiarism case."

"Were you successful?"

"I set the logic bomb to go off a few days before Valentine's Day and then resigned. I took a cover job to distance myself from the mayhem. As you are well aware, the bomb went off, on schedule. Next week, the board of directors is convening to address the situation. We have sent a letter to the chairman outlining our grievances. He has granted us a meeting on Monday afternoon."

"So, our meeting last week was just a result of random logic?" Aaron looked disappointed.

"No, that was by design," she said, patting his leg. "I felt a surge of jealousy after your lecture when you left with your girlfriend. You were cute and smart; a definite turn-on for me. Later, I heard about your New Year's Eve debacle on the evening news and figured your relationship might be headed for the rocks. I took a chance and programmed you as my mismatch."

"They'll probably catch you. You could end up in jail."

"I don't think so. The logic bomb self-destructed and the normal programming was automatically restored. There is no identifiable trace left behind. The only people who know about this are Psyche, Zephyrus, and Cupid."

"Who is Zephyrus?"

"My coauthor and main partner in our case against FOP. For now, I can't reveal his name."

"And Cupid?"

"He's sitting next to me. If this does end up in court, he will defend my work because he is an expert in the field of Applied Mathematics."

"I think I've been used without even realizing it." Aaron shook his head, marveling at the thoroughness of her plan.

"You will be compensated, of course. The fun stuff starts in another hour." Frida smiled smugly and snuggled back into his shoulder.

"So, Miss Psyche. Do I get to shoot you with my golden arrow?"

"Take me home and I'll show you my quiver."

*

~ Just Desserts ~

Two weeks later, Aaron was sleeping in Saturday morning after returning late from an out-of-town conference. Drifting in and out of sleep, he only half-heard the morning news on the television.

"And in financial news, Wall Street reacted positively to yesterday's announced resignation of Finis Dumas, CEO of the popular online dating service, Friends-O-Plenty dot-com, pushing the stock price up forty percent. There was no comment from Mr. Dumas, but in a prepared statement, Chairman Euan Dewer said that Dumas' departure was requested for plagiarism and other unscrupulous business practices. In the same statement, Dewer also announced the appointment of Frida B. Nordstrom as Chief Technical Officer and System Architect. FOP dot-com, as you may recall, recently suffered an interruption in service due to an alleged instance of hacking. Dewer assured the shareholders that Ms. Nordstrom would get to the bottom of the mystery and install safeguards against future attacks."

"Did you hear that?" Frida shook him and bounced on the bed. "Wake up!"

"I'm awake," he groaned, rolling onto his back. "Congratulations. CTO is pretty impressive."

"I knew Euan would see the truth, if I could just get his attention."

"Well, Psyche certainly did that. She got my attention, as well."

"I could use some more attention," she said, rolling on top of him.

"Ow. Those barbells are sharp. More attention? Again? Isn't it time for breakfast?"

"Breakfast was hours ago," she said, easing her private piercing up towards his lips. "Right now, it's time for brunch."

~~~~~

I sincerely hope that you enjoyed reading this story as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you are so inclined, please cast a vote, leave a comment, or send feedback, good or bad. I truly appreciate your patronage.