Trading in Strange Places Pt. 08

I was leaning back in the chair, mentally massaging these viewpoints, when the door opened quietly behind me. I didn't move, pretending not to have heard. A few seconds later, two bodies landed in my lap simultaneously, spilling all three of us to the floor.

"Lucas! We couldn't stand it any longer. This isn't going to work."

The rest of the mumbling was lost in kisses as I lifted from the floor with them in my arms and walked down the hall to the bed. I held Amelia and Kathleen, who were totally out of control and starting to unbutton their blouses.

Pressing them down hard, I said in a grumpy voice, "Just the two I want. Stay right there and do not undress! I will bring drinks."

The tray held three sodas and a bowl of munchies. They were against the headboard, their eyes trying to determine what I was up to. I avoided looking at the bodies and said, "You are my oldest advisors on market strategy. I need to bounce some thoughts off you, so relax and put on your thinking caps."

"Lucas, when you bounce something off us, it is always about sex. You actually want us to try to use our brains?" There were giggles after that, which I squelched with a terrible growl and frown.

After sips, I collected the glasses to the night table and ordered, "Heads down, eyes closed, ears open."

Lying quietly between their warm legs, I began my lecture.

"It is now well established that the ordinary investor is served best by holding a broad-based portfolio of common stocks, with major shares matched to market capitalizations. You do, however, have to have the courage to hold fast when bear markets arrive and everything goes in the tank for a few years."

I paused and heard only hums from my companions. "But Western Investors aspires to more than a middle of the road strategy. We operate in that space between conventional wisdom and lunatic risks..."

"Do I have that framed correctly?"

"When do we get to the good parts?"

"Put some juice into this seminar, Lucas, or we will fall asleep."

My hands were about to fall harshly on thinly covered rumps when I realized they were right. Insolent, but correct.

"The quant models and the Internet are squeezing stock traders and analysts out of business right and left. The remaining ones are spending much of their time staring at screens, chasing ever smaller returns."

I heard a noise across the room and looked up to discover Rya and Ellen sitting on the floor in each other's arms. The Sailor said, "I've been recording you, Lucas. That is almost line for line the text I have been working on for our first sales brochure. But, as Kathleen asks, 'When do we get to the good parts?' The secret, proprietary stuff that isn't going in any brochure?"

Damn impertinent women. They would get bounced right out of the classroom if they tried that on a real professor. Keeping my voice calm and level, I said,

"Class, this is where things get a bit tricky. Market wisdom is acquired by gathering on the rocky tip of a high mountain under a full moon at summer Solstice. Even though it is a bit chilly at altitude, nakedness is required..."

Outraged screams filled the room. I had really torched them off. Bodies fell on me.

"Stop! You deserved that, giving me such a hard time. You think this is easy? Lie down here, all of you, and I will be serious if you behave."

Maybe a little Socratic method would help. "When you are learning tennis, what is one of the first things you are taught about meeting the ball with your racket?"

"Anticipation!"

"Yes. Exactly. Now tell me, in American football, what do you call a long pass late in the game when your team is behind?"

"A Hail Mary!"

"OK. When you are in a tough rugby scrum, what carries the day?"

"Grit and Determination!"

"When you combine all three of those, what do you get?"

Silence. Until Ellen took to my chest, hands buried in my long hair. "A trading strategy for Western Investors."

"Viola!"

Eyes stared at me accusingly while Rya poured wine into glasses. "Ha. Thought you were going to get a magic formula for millions?"

"Hush. You don't need to rub it in, Lucas." She nodded at Rya, whose latest chore was to supply teddys and duvets. Clothes were being shed, but undies left on.

"What he is trying to say in his scrambled words is that the race for market advantage is getting tougher every day, fueled by technology."

Kathleen picked up the thread, "Thanks to the hard work of our computer experts, we are players."

Mely added, "But there is something more, the Adam Lucas special ingredient."

I kissed each cheek and tucked them in. "Yes. My incredible team."

I tiptoed out and went to work on dinner. One by one, other bodies appeared and gave me a hug. Putting a finger to my lips, I whispered, "They are napping."

Toni and Lyn squeezed me with their hips while Claire and Richard watched, tangled with each other.

"What's with some people work and some people nap?" The young sexpots tried to tickle me. I handed out more vegies to slice. "We had a seminar about trading strategy. They are exhausted."

"My sister is smart about that stuff. How much money did she make today? I'm sorry, but I spent fifteen thousand on workout machines."

"Yes, and I contracted for twenty thousand of concrete foundation."

A body pressed me to the counter and the quiet voice said, "He was totally foolish, but we are supposed to read between the lines."

"What do you mean?" The two of them stopped slicing and looked at Ellen and me.

"The short version is that the tools and strategies are out there, and the winners are those who use them best."

I turned around and squeezed the CEO to me, touching her lips with mine.

Toni pulled my ear. "Lucas, you have the bestest in your arms."

"I know and I need to tell her something for a minute." She rode in my arms to the back bedroom and straddled across my thighs. "What?"

"It's none of my business to tell the CEO what to do, but..."

The cuff to my head was brutal. "Stop that, and tell me what you are thinking!"

"What do you like best about the team we have gathered?"

Silence. I wormed my hand under her shirt and cupped a firm breast.

"I can't decide between smart and sexy."

"Ah, great minds think alike." I kissed her wetly and pinched the nipple under my fingers.

"What is the core business of WIL?"

"Making money in the stock market. Am I going to learn what this is about before we have sex?"

I relaxed, allowing her to lay out on top. "I shouldn't tease you, but it is great fun. In the middle of the session a little while ago, it occurred to me that with all our brainpower, each of them should have a stock analyst assignment. It will stretch their brains and emphasize our number one priority as a team and a company."

She shook and put the shoe on the other foot, breathing into my neck and flexing her hips.

"Lucas, you are going to get them so multitasked, there won't be room for sex!"

The urge to take her instantly was strong, but instead I walked the warm package to the kitchen, where everyone was gathered, sipping drinks and inspecting us curiously.

"They have their clothes on and she isn't pink. Must have been serious."

Ellen and I looked at each other, and I began, "We were talking about the balance between work and play..."

She picked up, "And have decided you don't have enough work to do..."

A terrible outcry filled the room. I continued, "But given the level of talent you represent, Ellen thinks..."

"Consistent with our new organization, each and every staff member will have the freedom to choose..."

I finished, "Which stock trading sector you are going to become expert in."

It was great fun rocking back and forth with Ellen while our bombshell reverberated. She was bubbling with excitement and whispering bad suggestions in my ear about the extra bedroom.

Lyn sidled up and asked, "Do architects get to play this game?" I boosted her to the counter, where her legs wrapped around and squeezed viciously. I tried to answer, but she said, "Lucas, the workout equipment is coming in a week. I told the contractor the room has to be ready to start ski conditioning classes on October 1st. These belly muscles of yours need help before you try the slalom gates."

Toni delivered a sneaky kidney punch and hissed, "I suppose social media is already taken?"

They pummeled me for several minutes before Ellen intervened, hoisting Toni to the side. "Don't forget the promises you made to the CEO, young ones. I am not to fall on my nose in front of the investors."

I lay my head on Lyn's muscled thighs, shaking with laughter, while they made sympathetic noises about the CEO's need for ski lessons. Lyn's fingers alternately massaged along my spine, and pounded as hard as she could.

"Lucas, if you misbehave with Ellen on the ski hill, there will be severe consequences..."

Chapter 25 - A Client Warning

Ellen was on one side, and Mely the other. It was still dark, but they were awake, as usual. One of the nicest things about having girlfriends, plural, is warmth on both sides in the morning. Unusually, I wasn't hard and I wasn't thinking about sex. I smiled to myself, something was surely wrong.

A hand crept across my belly to the thigh on the far side. "He is awake and not attacking. You don't suppose the new arrangement is working?"

I gathered the bodies to me with a deep rumble, saying nothing. A whisper at my ear said, "There is going to be a morning run as soon as the coffee is ready, and then we are going to commit serious money in the market."

The lips at the other ear said, "Yes. Thank you. I was thinking the same thing. After all that talk yesterday, we need action..."

Desperately out of breath following them up the trail, I realized that action also meant keeping Lucas in shape. This was funny, in a perverse way. After the chitchat about multitasking, they were forcing the solo trader into action with his body and with his brain at the same time.

"If the object is to beat me down the hill, why are you running me into the ground?"

Giggles and a high speed descent. I pretended to be grumped and took my shower on the back porch. After grabbing coffee, I noticed there was a message on the machine. It was from our big investor, Steve Waldron, and asked for a call back.

I asked the two women, "Do we have problems with Steve?"

After they shook their heads no, I placed the phone on speaker and dialed.

"Hi Steve, what can we do for you this morning?"

"Just checking to see if you've managed to lose that IPO money in some hair-brained investment?"

"Not a nickel of it. In fact, you are a million ahead or something like that."

"Excellent! What I was really calling about was to give you a heads up that there has been some poisonous gossip going around that you are going to be put in your place. No details."

"Do you suppose this is a revenge attack?"

"Not from the top. Ross is too solid a citizen to play those games. Maybe somebody who always disliked your wild ways and big success. I don't know you need to do anything special, but maybe keep looking over your shoulder?"

"I thought you Navy guys were told you couldn't get where you were going by watching the ship's wake?"

"Damn right. Still good advice. If you need help, give me a ring." Click.

The scrambled eggs with sausage were good, but my mood wasn't.

"More electronic attacks?" I looked across the table at them.

"Easier than laying siege to Steamboat." Mely smiled as we mentally considered that notion.

Ellen joked, "I'll tell Lyn to add sally ports to the executive residence."

Frowning, I said, "Catherine-Marie doesn't need any more hassle right now. But we had better go talk to her and Richard."

They were in the crowded back room of the rented house, which the servers kept nice and warm.

"I had a call from Waldron, saying there is gossip that we are going to be put in our place."

Richard asked, "No more than that?"

"No."

C-M queried, "You want us to go on the offensive? Turn up a honeypot machine?"

"Let's not overreact. Set your triggers tighter and stay close today. Plan on a meeting at lunch."

Ellen and Mely were still in the kitchen. "Hey, I am going to work on the Waldron business. Go ahead and do your market work. Keep a close watch for things that don't look quite right. We'll have an all hands meeting at lunch."

I tracked down Rya, who was on cleanup detail at the B&B Victorian, which was nearing completion. I found a cushion and a quiet corner. In a moment, she was imprisoned in a cage of my arms and legs, squirming vigorously.

"What is it this time? I am going to complain to Ellen that you never talk to me without an attack!"

I nuzzled under her ear and rubbed the flat chest. Her sigh was loud. "I could stay here all day, you louse."

"This is actually about your Finnish brains, not the incredible body in my arms."

Claire stood frowning in front of us. "What is he doing? Aren't you supposed to be sweeping?"

"He says we are using our brains. Does it look like that?"

"No, but I think you'd better listen." She walked away.

"Lucas, tell me what this is about. Every time you get me in your arms, I start falling asleep it is so cozy."

"You remember the time you were going to gather intelligence in your New York girlfriends' bedrooms?"

"Yes. You didn't look happy."

I nipped at her ear. "We will deal with your bi tendencies later. What I am thinking is that we need to check sources for intelligence about people who have it in for WIL. And do it in a semi-organized way. Our own little counter-intelligence operation. Do you think you could be a counter-spy?"

She hauled me to my feet. "Come. It is time for a break and you and I will get the lattes. We can talk seriously on the way. No more cozy corner."

I explained about the Waldron phone warning while she drove and pulled into the drivethru line.

"Lucas, there could be hundreds of suspects."

"I know, that's why I tracked you down. We need an organized approach, and one that doesn't pull everyone in the company away from their regular work."

She thought about that until the latte tray was ready and was handed across to me.

"I don't have a one minute answer for you."

I thought about a smart response and held my tongue. The little voice said, "This is a warfare situation, Marine. Get Richard and put on your thinking cap." I called and asked him to come over to the B&B, telling C-M we would return him on short notice if needed in the computer room.

Lyn and Claire were dealing with a large pile of papers in the project office when we entered with their drinks. I explained again about Waldron's warning, and asked if they could host lunch for everyone on the back patio. It was reassuring how quickly they dropped out of teasing mode and got on the phone to make arrangements for a catered meal.

Rya and I sat in the sun, sipping the extra hot drink and mulling over thoughts. Richard showed up and grabbed the last cup.

"Marine, we need to treat this like a battle problem. Who's the enemy, what's the objective, what are our resources?"

He had on his faded dungarees, and looked every inch a shaggy dog. I thought to myself how good it felt to have him backing me up.

"Lucas, the Marines are still playing catchup in cyber warfare."

"Along with everyone else," I added.

Rya looked at me, her eyes as serious as I had ever seen them. "I know a lot of people in the business, Lucas, but I'm no military person."

I explained to Richard, "I've asked Rya to take the lead on our counter-intelligence. Pull in as much source info as she can and get it evaluated by me, you, Ellen and others. We'll need our own mini-DEFCON system. Since the primary threat is from the Net, maybe you can handle that with help from Catherine?"

By lunchtime, there was a crude map of what we should do in my brain, and I didn't feel as defenseless as I had at eight in the morning.

Richard and I had been in a few military situation rooms while on active duty, and ours didn't match up very well. The mountain sun was hot on bodies casually arranged around a beat up patio table in the middle of remodeling mess.

Rya had found several large pads of paper and was writing like crazy as contributions from the group came across the table. After an hour, the game plan was falling in place.

Ellen spoke up, "Lucas, if we are successful in outing these people, what is the remedy?"

"If you ask Richard and me that with our Marine caps on, the answer is to dispose of them quietly and completely."

She didn't look happy. I added, "But that doesn't work with WIL and with civilian opponents, does it?"

Everyone was shaking their heads. I said, "We will need to noodle on this as we go, but the quick answer is to find a way to inflict maximum public embarrassment without tipping our hand. WIL needs investors, not a reputation for taking down crooks."

As we were picking up from lunch, a voice over my shoulder said, "I didn't realize until today how nice it is to have a couple of Marines around. You handled that perfectly, Lucas."

Kathleen wrapped herself to me for a soft kiss.

I snapped to attention and said, loud enough for Richard to hear, "In leadership school, they teach you that the troops come first, last and always."

She laughed and said, "From what I read in the papers, the Marines are clueless about how to handle their female recruits!"

I teased back, "But Richard and I are learning from you and these others. Slowly, some days."

She fist butted me. "Slowly doesn't describe it, soldier."

Chapter 26 - Waiting for An Attack

I nudged Ellen away from the rest. "We need to talk, but probably shouldn't leave the area."

"Let's go to the rented house. C-M needs company."

Catherine was looking at a syslog printout when we arrived. She pointed at a line, "We are being probed from a source behind TOR every ten minutes or so."

With time and sophistication, most of these machines could be identified, but spoofed IP and MAC addresses made it even harder. Not worth the trouble if you were not part of a national security operation.

I asked, "Is that more frequent than normal?"

"It goes up and down. Mostly joyriding by young punks, but you never know."

We left her to the blinking lights and made fresh coffee in the kitchen.

"Steve shot down our investing day pretty well."

"Do you suppose that is the idea? Keep us distracted and vulnerable?"

"That's why I tagged Rya with the counter strategy. It's her business to know a lot of people and check in with them. She also has that Finnish heritage of being squeezed by elephants and bears."

A small body was climbing my back and landing on my shoulders. "I heard that. When my grandfather was a kid, they had to learn Russian in school. Before that, it was German."

I reached up, trying to find a squeezable boob. "No, no. If you are nice, I will tell you some news."

What she got was being spread on the counter, Ellen and I both at work on the muscles and tickle spots.

"You are horrible. Give me a kiss."

From the vantage point of my lap, she poked Ellen and said, "My friend at our former employer says three traders got bounced the other day for poor results and messing with a known insider."

Ellen wanted names. "Only one. Terence McGinnis."

"Ah yes, he was on my list of problems. They called him Terry the Mad Hatter. Would make a pile of money in the market one day and lose it the next."

I asked, "So he is mad at everybody and everything and going to take down Adam Lucas?"

"Or maybe Ellen Peterson and her WIL crowd?"

Through the archway, Rya was doing yoga moves on the living room carpet, looking beautiful. Ellen walked to her and removed clothes. "You have a wonderful flexible body. Do your exercises bare, it is art."