One Wild Night

"I haven't done anything yet. The garage is probably locked up and secured, and I have no idea how we will get in."

"Leave that to me. I think I can get us inside. Billy stopped off there one night but had forgotten his key. I saw where he kept a hide-a-key, but I don't think he noticed."

"Awesome! What about an alarm system?"

"Billy is too cheap for alarms. He never worries about it, though, since he has Otis."

"Who's Otis?"

"You'll see..." said Nora mysteriously.

The drive, thankfully, was a short one.

Karl shutoff his car, listening to the soft ticking of the cooling engine while he observed Billy's garage from a parking lot directly opposite the building. It looked just like any auto mechanic shop he had ever seen complete with old tires stacked to one side and a couple of junkie looking cars gathering dust on blocks, likely cannibalized for parts long ago.

"Doesn't look like anyone's home," he whispered.

"Why are you whispering?"

"Just practicing for when we get inside," he answered, not wanting to admit how nervous he was about this whole thing even if it had been his idea. The longer he sat there thinking about it, the worse the idea seemed.

"Who do I think I am, James Bond?"

"You're still whispering," pointed out Nora, and he hoped she didn't hear the "James Bond" comment which he hadn't realized he had said aloud.

"Sorry. I...Uh...Guess we had better get going."

Nora put a hand on his arm before he could open the car door.

"Are you sure you want to do this? If Billy or Earl show up..."

"Don't worry about it. We will be in and out like a flash."

He tried to put as much bravado into his voice as he could. Seeing Nora's worried face had reminded him why he was doing this, and he felt suddenly that letting her down would be worse than anything Billy or Earl could do to him.

"Probably..." he thought as he stepped out into the cool night air.

After looking both ways, he ran across the street with Nora close behind.

They hugged the building, listening for signs of life, and finding none. Nora led him around to a side door, stooping over to pick up what turned out to be a fake, hollow rock from a pile of similar-looking stones on the ground. She smiled at him, looking relaxed and confident, but Karl noted how her hand shook when she went to unlock the door.

The heavy, steel door swung back nosily on rusty hinges. Karl switched on a flashlight he had pulled from his glove compartment, playing the beam across a garage filled with cars in various states of repair and several others under cloth tarps. There were tools scattered about the place, some on racks on walls, and some left haphazardly on the ground. The place reeked of gasoline and motor oil.

He stepped around Nora, but barely got a foot into the garage when a deep, bass growl came from out of the darkness and the largest dog he had ever seen trotted into view.

"Oh...Crap" whispered Karl.

The low light made the wide-shouldered beast, which he guessed was some kind of Pit bull mix, look like Cerberus guarding the mythical gates of Hell, minus a couple of extra heads. It opened it's mouth to reveal rows of sharp-looking yellowed teeth. The growling went up in volume as it moved closer.

"Backup slowly," said Karl in a tight voice to Nora.

Nora didn't answer him, and he nearly had a heart attack when she strolled passed him with her hands held out in front of her.

"Ahhhh! Otis! Who's a good boy? Do you remember me? Such a good boy, Otis..."

The big animal was still giving out low rumbles from within its broad chest, but now it cocked its large, round, head to the side looking confused.

"That's a good boy...Yeah...Such a good boy..."

Nora took each step slowly and carefully until she was just inches from all those dangerous-looking teeth. Karl held his breath while she placed her hands on either side of the big dog's head and started to rub him behind his ears.

"You do remember me don't you, Boy?"

With a mighty groan that reverberated off the walls, Otis dropped to his knees and promptly rolled onto his back, showing his belly.

"Ahhhh! Do you want the scratches big, Boy?"

Nora began to rub his belly while throwing a look over her shoulder at Karl.

"It's okay," she said, waving him forward.

"Are you sure?" mouthed Karl, looking warily at the big dog.

"He's just starved for affection. With Billy as an owner, I'm not surprised."

Karl grimaced, but forced himself forward, joining her in patting the iron-hard flesh of Otis's pink tummy.

"Good boy..." whispered Karl.

"See...Nothing to be afraid of..."

He wasn't so sure, but he kept petting Otis anyway while turning the flashlight back the way the dog had come. The beam illuminated three doors down a short hallway.

"Billy's is the one furthest back. The other two are storage, I think."

Leaving Nora to keep Otis entertained, Karl made his way down the hallway to the last office. The door was locked, but this was hardly a modern building, and he could easily see where the latch was exposed. It was child's play to jimmy it open with his Swiss Army knife, and seconds later, he was sitting at a coffee-stained metal desk squinting at Billy's filthy computer screen.

"Jesus! Does this guy ever clean his monitor," groused Karl, wiping at the screen with his sleeve.

The mouse next to it wasn't in much better shape, covered with grease and dirt, but he sucked it up and put his hand on it anyway.

"Wish I had brought some hand sanitizer."

Nora joined him just as he clicked on the screen. A password prompt blinked in front of him.

"I really hope that you..."

"Horndog69," she said.

"Seriously?"

"He made a big joke of telling me once. I guess he thought of it as charming."

"You dated this guy, why exactly?"

"He was good-looking and had a nice car."

When Karl raised an eyebrow, Nora frowned defensively, "Oh, like you never dated for looks when you were younger. I admit I was shallow."

He laughed and typed in the password bringing them to his desktop.

"How are we supposed to know what we're looking for anyway?"

"We can start with his recent file history. I bet it's something he accesses regularly."

There were only a handful of files and folders listed. The first few were innocent enough, invoices for parts and a directory that turned out to be filled with pictures of naked women downloaded from various porn sites.

The third folder was just listed as "Important Inventory."

Karl clicked on it but found himself facing another password pop up.

"What is it?"

He sighed, "It's encrypted. Which probably means this is the right one, but we can't get at it without the password."

They tried, "horndog69" but it didn't work.

"Any other ideas?"

Nora shrugged, straightening up and pinching her lower lip in thought.

"I would never have thought Billy would be smart enough to encrypt anything!"

"It might not have been him. The last access date on this directory is late yesterday. Once he realized that Misty had gotten a hold of the data, he might have told Earl or one of his other cronies, and they might have shown him how to encrypt it to make it safer. I suppose it doesn't matter how it happened.

"Yeah. The bottom line is I'm still screwed," said Nora with a shake of her head.

Seeing how crestfallen Karl looked at the impact of her words, she put a hand on his shoulder.

"I know you tried your best. We should get out of here."

Nora moved back in the direction of the door but noticed that Karl wasn't following.

"What is it?" she asked.

He was staring at the dingy screen, face frozen in concentration. There was something naggingly familiar about the icons in front of him, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"Son of a bitch!" he crowed suddenly, snapping his fingers.

"Jesus! What?"

Karl didn't answer her immediately, instead ducking his head under the desk and checking something. When his head appeared again, he was smiling.

"We might still have a chance," he said, reaching again for the mouse.

Nora returned to stand behind him, confusion painted on her pretty, young features.

"I don't understand. You said the data was encrypted."

"I said it was recently encrypted, but your Ex has a tape backup drive connected to his computer. See that icon there with the array of stars? That's the icon for Orion backup. It's the same software I use to backup my network data at Sellinger Brothers, where I work. I use an enterprise version, but Orion used to sell a cheaper one to third party resellers, and they included a trial version on personal computers."

"How does this help us?"

"Orion has a back door password. A default administrator one that you're supposed to change when it gets installed. I'm betting that Billy never bothered to change it."

Karl clicked on the icon he had pointed out, and sure enough, when the startup splash screen appeared for Orion, he was able to enter the default password and go right into the program.

"I still don't get how this helps us?"

He grinned as he scrolled down the list of recent backups.

"It helps because the backup from yesterday would have happened before he encrypted the directory. The data on the tape would still be accessible. Here it is!"

Karl clicked on the folder he wanted and submitted it for recovery. While the tape drive in the computers chassis whirled and clicked, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his keys. Dangling from the fob was a USB drive he kept with him for emergencies. He slipped it into the computer and watched as the operating system recognized it and prepared it for access.

"Did you hear something?" asked Nora suddenly.

She went back over to the door, opening it a crack and peeking down the hallway. At first, everything seemed quiet, and she thought that it was just her nerves getting to her, then she heard the unmistakable sound of a key hitting a lock and men's loud voices along with Otis's growls coming from the front of the shop.

Nora spun on her heel, her face turning pale.

"Someone's here! We have to go!"

Karl shook his head, "Tape drives are slow. The data hasn't copied yet."

"How long?"

"Forty seconds."

"We haven't got forty seconds!"

The voices were getting louder, moving in their direction.

"I told you to quit thinking with your dick, Billy! If that bitch gets that info to the station, she could fuck us royally! I'm a cop, man! I can't go to jail!"

"Don't worry about it, Earl. We'll track her down. I called a couple of the boys to meet us here. We can get some coffee in us and then come up with a plan."

Nora's eyes began to fill with fear as the sounds of heavy, booted feet came closer to the door where she stood. The handle jiggled, and she jumped back.

"Crap! Forgot I locked it. Hang on...shit!" grumbled Billy, and she heard the distinct sound of a key hitting the concrete floor.

"Man! You got shitty hands, Bro! No wonder you sucked in the field."

"Screw you, Earl. I might not have been a great glove man, but I led the team in home runs when I was a senior. I remember you riding the pine!"

"That was middle school, dumb ass! You were the one riding the pine in high school."

Nora looked on helplessly as the doorknob started to turn. She wanted to run, but there was nowhere to go, and her feet seemed like they had been nailed to the ground.

The door began to open, and Billy's face appeared around the edge.

What happened next occurred so abruptly it was all a blur of motion that only later, when she was alone, started to sort itself into clear images in her mind. The door swinging back, Billy's face registering shocked surprise at the sight of Nora standing right in front of him. Then a hand on her arm pulling her back, Karl stepping around her with something in his hand, a large, red cylinder. The loud sound of gas being released and a billowing cloud of white hitting Billy and Earl right in their respective faces making them dive back and trip over one another as they were blinded. Her body being propelled forward by a shove from behind.

"RUN!" yelled Karl.

She did.

The hallway was lit up now since Billy had turned on the lights, and she ran down it like she was trying to break an Olympic sprinting record. Karl was right beside her, and they hit the back door seconds later, running toward his vehicle. When they reached it, she noticed he was lugging something with him that he dropped as he punched wildly at the buttons on his keys. The fire extinguisher rolled away across the blacktop.

"Get in and get down!" cried Karl.

He started the engine, slamming his car into gear and burning rubber as the vehicle lurched into precarious motion. Across the street, Billy and Earl appeared in the front doorway of the shop. Earl had a gun in his hand, and he raised it.

"Oh...SHIT!"

Though he barely heard the report of the shot, Karl saw the muzzle flash and had a ringside seat to watch the back passenger window of his car explode into jagged fragments as the bullet tore through it. Nora screamed from beside him, and he nearly lost control, barely avoiding hitting a stop sign on the corner, turning them away at the last second. They started to fishtail into the intersection, but he went with it and got them pointed straight again. A second shot missed the car entirely but spurred Karl to get them out of there. He pressed the gas to the floor, and they took off, leaving Billy and Earl in their dust.

"Fuck me...We did it...Holy CRAP! WE DID IT, NORA!"

Nora was still white as a sheet, but she managed to smile, "That was a pure Bonnie and Clyde moment. Damn, Karl! I thought we were fucked!"

"I know. Me too. We got lucky as hell."

"Screw luck! That was all you! I've never seen anything like that. You have some serious balls!"

Karl couldn't have wiped the smile off his face if he had tried. He had never in his life felt as alive as he did at that moment.

They ripped along at a good clip for quite aways, until he was satisfied that he had shaken any pursuit. It was hard to ease off the accelerator, his adrenaline seemed never-ending, but finally, he slowed the car back to a more reasonable speed.

"Where to now?"

Nora paused in thought, "I need to get my head together. I'm thinking now it might be better to take this stuff to the state police instead of taking my chances with the cops here even if I know who is on the take. Why don't you take me to my sisters? She moved here long after Billy and I broke up, so he doesn't know anything about her. It should be safe."

"Sounds good," he agreed.

Nora gave him directions, and a short time later, they pulled into the driveway of a small, simple-looking white and blue house somewhere in the suburbs. The sun was just starting to rise over the horizon as they walked up to the front door. The driveway was empty except for Karl's car, and he looked at Nora questioningly.

"Carrie goes into work early on Saturdays, but she will be home by noon."

She let them into the house with a key she pulled from under the mat.

The inside was quiet, and Karl stumbled over to a long, leather couch that occupied the far wall of what he assumed to be Carrie Devlin's living room. The furniture was cheap but nice, and there was a big screen T.V. on the wall opposite the couch with an expensive-looking stereo system beneath it.

"What a night..." he sighed, sitting down.

Nora joined him, leaning back against the cushions.

"You know...The amazing thing is I don't feel tired at all."

"Probably the adrenalin. It will wear off eventually, but I know what you mean."

"Karl, listen, I don't even know where to start to thank you for everything you did for me."

"Forget it. I think you did just as much for me."

Nora looked confused at that and sat back up.

"What did I do for you other than get you beat up, chased, and shot at?"

"You left out, making me an accomplice to breaking and entering and spending an uncomfortable few minutes having my crotch crushed by a blond Amazon."

"I think you might have enjoyed that last part."

"I'm not saying..." joked Karl, and they both laughed.

"Seriously. What did I do for you?"

"When I went into that bar tonight, I was feeling sorry for myself. There I was, sitting on the cusp of my fiftieth birthday and facing a divorce and upheavals at work. I was down, kind of thinking that the best parts of my life were over, and all I had to look forward to was getting old and slow while having to start over again to boot. Falling in with you made me see that perhaps I still have some gas left in the tank after all. I might have some silver in my hair, but that doesn't mean my life has to fade into quiet obscurity. Somewhere between the bar fight and the getaway, you reminded me that I could still be valuable to someone."

"I forgot last night was your birthday."

"Technically today, remember? My buddies just decided to celebrate it last night."

"Oh, yeah. You told me that...Wow, it seems like a lifetime ago when I was pouring you drinks."

"Time flies when you're on the run."

"I'm glad you don't hold last night against me. You're an extraordinary guy, Karl."

"Thanks."

"Can I ask you something?"

"At this point, Nora, given what we've been through, I think you can ask me almost anything."

"When we were at the club with Trudy last night, what did you think of her?"

"Excuse me?"

"I was wondering if you enjoyed the dance? I was getting the distinct impression that she was getting to you."

Karl turned red thinking about it and barely choked out a reply, "Ah...Well...It's been a long while for me. My wife and I haven't exactly been engaged in any bedroom activities for some time now."

"That's right. She's been going down on the scuba diver!"

"Did you have to remind me?"

"Sorry. I was just asking because Trudy and I always had this competition going as to which of us gave the better dance, so I was just wondering how you would rate her?"

"It was pretty good, I guess. I haven't had an experience like that in quite a few years, so I don't have much to compare it to. Trudy is certainly, uh, creative and enthusiastic," admitted Karl.

Nora suddenly bounced up from the couch and went over to the stereo.

"What are you doing?"

"It occurs to me that a birthday boy deserves a present and since I haven't had a chance to shop for you..."

With one hand, she pushed the loaded CD drawer in, and soon a steady, pulsing dance beat filled the small room. Nora turned to face Karl with a mischievous smile playing across her full lips.

"Plus...Like you just said yourself, how can you give me an opinion on Trudy when you haven't seen me?"

Karl took a deep breath, feeling his fading adrenaline coming back in a rush.

Nora walked away from the stereo and started to move her body in time to the music, swaying her hips and running her hands up across her chest, letting her fingers slide through her thick mane of red, curly hair. The ringlets fell back down around her face, momentarily obscuring her features before she snapped her head back and revealed them again. Her tongue flicked out to wet her lips, making that soft, pink flesh glisten in the low light.

"Oh...fuck..." murmured Karl while his cock swelled rapidly in his pants.

She took a step closer, then swung around, bending over to wave her ass in his face, before standing back up and slowly unzipping the side of her skirt. The cloth still clung to her, but not for long. Nora began to shimmy her hips rapidly from side to side in time with the music. Each sweet movement sent her skirt lower and lower until it slid down her legs, revealing the pink thong she was wearing that perfectly split her tight, white ass cheeks.

With her back still to him, she let her hands wander down to grip the bottom of her t-shirt, sliding it up and over her head and making it dangle in one hand before dropping it to fall by her feet. In one, sharp, rapid motion, she brought herself back around to face Karl dead on, leaning back and spreading her legs to gyrate to the beat.