Return of the Corporate Warrior
By Littlesilverstar, silverstar222b@yahoo.com
Christina deals with industrial spies

NOTE: This story stars Christina from my "Corporate Warrior" story.

Christina gathered up her things from her office as she prepared to leave
for the day.  As she collected her items, she thought about the events of a
year ago that had earned her this large office.

A year ago, she had been a little-known lower-middle manager in her company.
One day, she discovered that a young troublemaker named David, who was one
of the employees in her group, had beaten up a coworker named Paul in an
argument over a promotion.  When David refused to apologize and admit his
guilt, she had taught him a lesson by beating him up.  David had then turned
to his uncle, William, who was one of the company's vice-presidents and had
a fair degree of influence. William, enlisting the aid of thuggish henchmen,
had tried to bully her into quitting, but she had beaten him up too, as well
as his hired goons.  The saga ended with William and his henchmen going to
jail, David being fired, and Paul receiving the promotion he deserved.  As 
for Christina, her actions were deemed impressive enough that she received
William's old position. 

Now, at 28 years old, she was the company's youngest vice-president. She was 
also in a serious and sexual relationship with Paul, whom she had gotten to 
know quite well during the incident and had found quite attractive in both 
looks and personality.  They had to keep their relationship quiet, however, 
as the company frowned on executives and lower-level workers dating each 
other.

Suddenly, there came an urgent knocking on the door.  Christina opened it
and was surprised to find Mr. Worth, the CEO of the company, standing there.
"Come in.  What can I do for you?" she asked.

Worth looked around nervously, then quickly slipped into the office and
closed the door behind him. "I've got a problem and I'd like you to help 
me," he said. "This is going to be a strange request, but...we've got an
industrial spy in our company and I want you to find out who it is."

Christina looked at him in surprise. "A spy? Really? But why would you want
to come to me?"

"Well, first of all, from the level of knowledge the spy has, one of the
executives has to be involved," said Worth. "You're the only executive who's
too new to be the spy.  But more importantly, I remember the way you dealt
with William and I really like your...methods.  I have the security team
working on the case, but they're mostly a bunch of incompetent blowhards who
got into security because they didn't have what it takes to make it on the
police force.  But you...you know how to solve problems.  I don't have to 
tell you that there'll be a substantial reward for you if you solve this."

She nodded. "I'll be happy to help you," she said.  Growing up in a rough
neighborhood, she had developed a strong sense of justice and despised 
thievery and dishonesty.

"Good," said Worth.  He handed her a file. "Here's everything you need to
know about the case," he said. "Don't let anyone else see this file and 
don't let anyone else know what you're doing." He turned to leave. "Thank 
you and good luck," he added.

After the CEO had gone, Christina closed the door and sat down at her desk
to read the file.  The name "Worth Chemicals" was printed on it in small 
black letters.  

It seemed that chemical formulas were being slipped out from the company and
right into the hands of BroadChem Industries, their biggest rival and a
company that had a reputation for aggressiveness and underhanded dealings.
BroadChem would make products from the stolen formulas and claim them as 
their own creations.  There were likely at least two people from Worth
Chemicals involved in the betrayal - one who had the necessary chemistry 
knowledge and one who was a senior enough executive to have access to all of
the security codes.  There were many chemists employed at the company, but
there were only three executives (besides Worth himself) who knew all the
codes.  Profiles for each of these three were included in the file.  She had
experience working with all three of them, but she didn't know any of them
very well.

Jerry Roberts was the first name on the list.  He was a friendly, easygoing
guy who made a lot of jokes.  Not really the type to be an industrial spy,
she thought, but you never knew.  The next executive was Carmen Lopez.  She
was much more serious than Jerry, and very hardworking and ambitious.  That
ambition could be a motive, thought Christina. Then again, Carmen had always
seemed very loyal and devoted to Mr. Worth and his company.  The final name
was that of Bart Berkman.  Christina didn't like him.  He was an arrogant
loudmouth who had actually been friendly with William (not surprisingly, 
since their personalities were so similar).  He was also one of the few 
executives who had been opposed to giving her William's old position.
Christina found herself scowling while thinking about Bart Berkman, then
caught herself. If she was going to solve this case and expose the traitors,
she had to make judgements based on facts and not on personal dislikes.

She looked at her watch.  It was past 6:30. Quickly putting the file in her
bag, she gathered up the rest of her stuff and left the office.  She decided
to visit Paul.  Her boyfriend was the only one at the company she knew she
could trust completely.  Also, he worked in the labs all day and might have
an idea as to where the chemical end of the spying was coming from.

She drove to Paul's apartment and knocked on his door.  When he opened it,
she greeted him with a tight hug and a long kiss on the lips.

They made a cute couple, Christina and Paul.  She was 5'3" and 120 pounds,
with long blonde hair and a muscular body.  Although at about 5'6" and 145
pounds he was somewhat bigger than her, thanks to Christina's powerful and
well-conditioned muscles she was stronger than him. She loved the fact that
her boyfriend was turned on by her being the stronger one.

Paul smiled at her after the kiss. "Wow, nice greeting," he said.

"I like knowing the best way to say hello," she responded with a wink.  She
then turned serious. "I need your help with something," she said.  She told
him all about the problem with the industrial spying. When she was finished,
Paul had a thoughtful look on his face.

"I think I know who the traitor in the labs is," he said. "His name is Jake
Herkimer.  He's been acting very weird lately.  He snoops around the storage
areas when he thinks no one's looking, and he's been getting a lot of phone
calls that he acts very secretive about.  He's up to something."

"Keep a close eye on him," said Christina. "If you get any proof of what 
he's doing, tell me right away. I'll try to find out which of the executives
is involved in the spying."

"Another adventure," said Paul with a grin. "Just like the time we busted
William and David and their thugs."

Christina smiled back, then said, "Would you mind if I stayed at your place
tonight? We could pick up some food at the drive-through and look over the 
stuff in this file.  Then, maybe we could look over some things in the
bedroom..."

"I'd love that," said Paul.  He loved it when his girlfriend was sexually
aggressive.

The next day, after a night of passionate lovemaking, plus a small amount of
sleep, Christina and Paul went back to work.  Paul kept a close eye on Jake
in the labs, while Christina carefully watched Bart, Carmen, and Jerry.  She
had made a plan to follow her suspects in the evenings, in the hope that the
spy could be caught conducting his (or her) business after hours.  Paul had
made a similar plan to follow Jake after work.

When the end of the workday came, Christina got ready for her shadowing. To 
try to counter the negative personal feelings she had about Bart, she had 
decided to start with Carmen and do Bart last.  She knew what Carmen's car 
looked like, so she went out to her own car and waited behind the wheel. 
When Carmen came out and drove off, she followed at a safe distance.

The surveillance was uneventful.  Carmen stopped briefly at a convenience
store to pick up a few things, then went straight home.  Christina kept an
eye on the house for several hours, but Carmen did not come out again, nor
did she receive any visitors.  Finally, Christina decided that since her
suspect (and herself) had to be at work on time the next morning, it was
time to call it a night.

She met with Paul the next day at work. He informed her that he hadn't seen
Jake do anything suspicious when he had followed him.  When she got back to
her office and checked her email, she found that Mr. Worth wanted to meet
her in person to see how she was doing.

She went over to the CEO's office and greeted Karen, Mr. Worth's secretary.
"Mr. Worth said he wanted to see me," she said.

Karen sent her right into Worth's office.  Making sure to close the door
behind her, Christina greeted her boss, who was seated behind his large desk
with a worried look on his face.  He motioned for her to have a seat.

"I don't know for sure the names of everybody who has the capability to read 
company email, so I wanted to see you in person.  I've just received word 
that BroadChem Industries is preparing to put a new product on the market," 
said the CEO. "The formula for that product was, of course, stolen from us.  
The situation is getting worse.  How are you coming along?"

Christina told him about following Carmen last night, and her plans to
follow the other suspects.  She tried to think of the best way to tell him
about Paul and his suspicions about Jake.

"I've enlisted the help of one person who I know I can trust completely," 
she said. "He has an idea about the suspect on the laboratory end of things.
The suspect's name is Jake Herkimer."

Worth frowned, thinking for several seconds.  Finally, he said, "If you feel
that your friend is completely trustworthy, then I'll go with your judgement
on that.  However, you should have checked with me first."

"I'm sorry," said Christina. "But I don't know the people in the labs very
well, and he does.  He's been very helpful to me." In more ways than one, 
she thought to herself, a naughty little smile appearing on her pretty face.
The CEO gave her a puzzled look, at which she quickly removed the naughty
smile.

Worth then nodded in understanding. "I can see the importance of that," he
said. "I'll see if I can find anything else on this Jake Herkimer guy. Keep
at it.  We've got to expose the spies soon or we're going to lose a lot of
money."

That evening, just before work was over, Christina and Paul met to plan
their surveillance for the night. "We've already watched Carmen and Jake,"
said Christina. "We should do Jerry and Bart tonight.  I'll take care of
Bart.  He's a pretty rough guy and I want to be the one to be there if he
gets suspicious and turns violent."

"All right, I'll take Jerry," said Paul. "Tomorrow night, I'll shadow Jake
again.  If I watch him long enough, I'm sure I'll catch him at something."

After a nice long kiss, the two of them set off on their assignments.  Bart
drove straight home and Christina watched his house for several hours.  She
was just about to call it a night when she saw the front door open.  Bart
came out, got into his car, and drove off.  She followed him carefully.
Glancing at her watch, she saw that it was 10:08 in the evening.  Where
could he be going at this hour?

After about fifteen minutes of driving, Bart pulled into the parking lot of
an abandonded warehouse.  Christina's heart pounded with excitement.  It
certainly looked as if he was up to no good.  She parked her car a safe 
distance away and crept closer to her suspect on foot.  He had gotten out
of his car and was pacing back and forth impatiently.  Finally, the sound
of another car was heard.  The newcomer drove up next to Bart and got out.

It was a pretty but slutty-looking woman.  Bart greeted her with a whistle.
They then both climbed into the back seat of Bart's car.

Christina shook her head. "I got all excited and all it turned out to be 
was a horny guy out to get some cheap pussy," she thought to herself.  She
observed them for a while longer to make sure that fucking was all they were
doing, then crept back to her car and drove home.

She called Paul to tell him what she had found.  After laughing at the
description of Bart's late-night fuck, he informed her that Jerry hadn't
done anything suspicious while he had been watching him.

Christina had a hard time concentrating on her regular work the next day.
She kept thinking about the spies.  Finally, closing time rolled around and
she got ready to go.  Paul was watching Jake, and Christina planned to 
shadow Carmen again.  She paused in front of Carmen's office.  Carmen was
still in there, working late.  She waited for quite a while, pretending to
be busy reading documents whenever someone passed by.

Suddenly, she heard hurried footsteps behind her.  She whirled around and
saw Paul running up, an excited look on his face.  Motioning for him to be
quiet, they stepped out of Carmen's earshot. "What did you find?" asked
Christina.

"I just overheard a phone conversation between Jake and the spy among the
executives," grinned Paul. "They were discussing which formula they were
going to steal next, and what was the best time to do it.  And here's the
best part - I could just barely make out the voice of the other person on 
the line.  It wasn't very clear, but it was definitely a woman's voice.
There's only one woman among your suspects - Carmen."

A puzzled look came over Christina's face. "But it couldn't have been
Carmen," she said. "I've been standing in front of her office for the past
twenty minutes.  She's in there and she hasn't been on the phone."

Paul frowned. "But who else could it be?" he asked. "I couldn't hear much
of what the woman said, but she did mention knowing all the security codes."

"Carmen's the only woman who knows all the security codes, and it can't have
been her!" said Christina, pulling her blonde hair in frustration.

"Maybe someone really close to the CEO somehow learned the codes," said 
Paul. "Like Worth's wife or someone."

"Worth isn't married," said Christina. "He's really devoted to his work. The
only women he even has a business relationship with are me, Carmen, and..."
A sudden thought struck her. "Of course!" she said. "How could I have been
such a blonde?"

"What is it?" said Paul.

"Karen.  Worth's secretary," she said. "She's the closest one to him.  She
could have learned the codes if she kept her eyes and ears open.  We need to
warn Worth."

Suddenly, they heard a strange sound from behind them.  It sounded a little
like applause, but it was much quieter, as if it was only one hand clapping.
Christina and Paul turned around.

Karen was standing there, an evil grin darkening her normally attractive
face.  Her left hand was the one hand clapping. In her right hand, she held
a 9-millimeter pistol pointed straight at Christina's head.

"Very good," she said in a quiet and deadly voice. "You figured it out.
Unfortunately for you, you figured it out a few minutes too late." She
grabbed Christina and spun her around, then jammed her gun into the blonde's
back. "Now march," she ordered. "One word or one bit of trouble from either
of you and I'll kill you both."

They marched to the elevator.  Most of the other employees had already gone
home, but to be on the safe side Karen draped her coat over the gun so no 
one could see what she was doing.  They rode in silence down the elevator
and emerged in the underground parking garage.  A car was waiting, its
engine running.  Two men were in it.  The man behind the wheel was none
other than Jake Herkimer.  In the front passenger seat was a big man in a
business suit.

"I got the nosy ones.  Let's go," said Karen. She shoved Paul and Christina
into the back seat, then got in after them, still pointing her gun at them.
Jake quickly drove out of the garage and off into the night.

Now that they were safely alone, Karen relaxed. "I suppose you want to know
how I caught you," she said with a smirk.

"Nope," said Christina in her most casual voice.  She didn't want to hand
Karen an opportunity to gloat.

"Too bad.  I'm telling you anyway," said Karen. "I suppose I should start at
the beginning.  I've been Worth's secretary for fifteen years.  I work at
least as hard as he does, and he makes $900,000 a year. I make one-twentieth
that much."

"$45,000 a year? That's pretty good for a secretary," said Christina. "It's
certainly more than a sellout bitch like you deserves."

Karen drove her elbow into Christina's ribs, hard. "Shut up!" she snarled.
She hissed for a few seconds, then continued her story. "Then, I was
approached by J.T. here," she said, indicating the man in the front
passenger seat. "He works for BroadChem Industries, and his company was very
interested in acquiring some samples from us, for the right price of course.
So I kept my eyes and ears open, and over time managed to learn all the
security codes from Worth.  He trusts me completely and never suspected that
I was spying on him to learn the codes."

"He didn't trust you enough to tell you about the spy problem," pointed out
Christina with a small smile.  Karen, predictably, smashed her elbow into
the blonde's side again.  Christina decided that the pain was worth it if it
pissed Karen off and took away from her self-congratulatory attitude.

"I said shut up! I'm the one talking here!" shrilled Karen. "After I learned
the codes, I still needed a chemist, so I brought Jake in.  Between the two
of us, we've leaked a lot of good stuff to BroadChem in exchange for some
excellent monetary compensation."

"I've got a bug in Worth's office," Karen went on. "I heard your talk with
him and I knew you were in charge of investigating things.  I received a new
bug today and was planning to plant it in your office this evening. But just
when I was about to pick the lock, I saw you standing in the hall.  Then I
saw your boyfriend come running up.  Oh yes, I can tell you're fucking each
other from the way you talked.  I know everything.  Anyway," she continued
with a chuckle, "when you named me as the prime suspect, I knew the jig was
up.  Luckily, I always carry a bit of insurance around." She waved her gun.

"We've got a good deal going here," said Karen.  Her voice had become
quieter and colder. "And we can't have you messing it up." She suddenly
clonked Christina on the head with the gun, knocking her out.  She then did
the same to Paul.

Christina woke up with a terrible headache.  She looked around and saw that
she was locked in a large closet.  There was no sign of Paul or their
captors.

She knew that Karen, Jake, and J.T. most likely planned to kill her and 
Paul, but she didn't panic. Panicking would only make things worse. Instead,
she thought of how to get out of this jam.  

The first step was to get out of the closet. (No, not that kind of closet.
Although she had some bisexual friends, she herself was quite straight and
devoted to Paul).  She remembered something she had seen a heroine do in an 
action movie.  Reaching into her long blonde hair, Christina pulled out a 
hairpin.  Inserting it into the locking mechanism on the closet door, she 
moved it around until she finally heard a satisfying click.  The door came
open.

She walked quietly out of the closet and into a hallway.  The next order of
business was to look for Paul and set him free.

Suddenly, she heard voices coming from a nearby room.  Approaching it, she
saw that the door was ajar.  She could see Karen, Jake, and J.T. inside.  A
table in the room was covered with decks of cards and boxes of Chinese food.
The thugs were arguing about how to best kill their victims and make it look
like an accident.  Jake wanted to make it look like Christina and Paul died
in a car crash.  J.T. suggested giving them poison and making it look like
food poisoning.  Karen was in favor of blowing them up with an "accidental"
gas explosion.  Listening to them, Christina felt like the dwarves in the 
story "The Hobbit," who had been stuffed into sacks by trolls, who were 
discussing whether to roast them slowly, boil them, or sit on them one by 
one and squash them into jelly.

Christina wished she had a magic spell that would turn all three thugs into
stone.  Then she decided that since they were distracted, now was her best
chance to defeat them.

"How about this," said J.T.  He waved a deck of cards. "Whoever draws the
highest card, we do his idea.  Or her idea."

"Fair enough," said Karen.  She reached for the cards and shuffled them.
Jake then cut the cards.  Karen held out the deck to J.T., who drew a card.
"Eight of spades," he said. 

Jake drew his card next. "Six of diamonds. Damn," he said. "Well, Karen, 
it's all up to you." 

Christina was horrified at the way the thugs were casually planning a pair
of murders.  She readied herself for her attack.

Karen held up her card with a grin. "Jack of hearts," she said. "Looks like
we'll be doing my i-"

With a shrill, feminine warrior cry, Christina launched herself through the
air and landed a flying kick on Karen's back, sending her sailing across the
room.  Karen landed in an undignified heap, while Christina landed perfectly
on her feet.  The blonde then performed a powerful spin kick that hit both
Jake and J.T. and sent them both to the floor.

Karen got to her feet, an enraged look on her face. "You'll pay for this,
bitch!" she shrilled.  She reached into her coat.

Christina performed a lightning-fast front handspring that brought her 
directly in front of Karen, who now had her gun in her hand. Christina then
did a quick crescent kick that sent the gun sailing across the room.

"You've already got two buddies to back you up.  Don't tell me you need a
gun too," she taunted.  Karen hissed and swung a punch.  Christina blocked
it with her thick forearm, then knocked her opponent down with a cheerleader
kick to the face.  She then turned to face her other opponents.

Jake was still down, but J.T. had gotten to his feet.  He was a big man,
probably about 6'1" and 210 pounds. "Bring it on, blondie," he said, getting
into a boxing stance.

Christina kicked him in the groin and smirked as he howled in pain. "Maybe
that wasn't fair, but three against one isn't fair either," she chuckled.
She then drove a punch into his gut, followed by another one to his jaw.

Jake suddenly grabbed her from behind. "I've got her!" he yelled.  J.T.
advanced on her, but was knocked back when she kicked him in the chest.
She then stomped hard on Jake's foot.  As he let out a howl of pain, she
broke free and, without looking, drove her elbow backwards.  Her attack
caught Jake right in the solar plexus.  Seeing both men stumbling around
dizzily, she grabbed both their heads and slammed them together, hard. Jake
and J.T. fell to the floor.

Christina turned her attention back to Karen, who had gotten up and was
advancing on her, fists raised.  Karen's long brown hair was a mess and she
had an enraged look on her face.  The brunette, at 5'5" and 125 pounds, was
slightly bigger than Christina, but although she was quite fit she didn't
have the amount of muscle definition that the blonde had.

The two women began boxing. Although both of them landed punches, Christina
was clearly winning the fight. She landed two or three punches for every one
her opponent landed.  Suddenly, Karen punched Christina right in the middle
of her small, firm left breast.  She then delivered another punch to the
blonde's other breast and let out a sadistic laugh.

Christina, although her firm little 34B's were hurting terribly, didn't let
the pain cause her to lose her concentration.  Instead, she drove her knee
into Karen's groin with all her strength.  Karen shrieked in pain and 
clutched her wounded sweet spot. "You want to play dirty, then I can play
dirty too," growled Christina.

Suddenly, she sensed a movement behind her.  Without turning to look, the
little blonde fired a powerful back kick that slammed into J.T.'s gut, 
ruining his chance to launch a surprise attack.  She followed it up with a
pretty spin kick that knocked J.T. to the ground, then turned her attention
back to Karen.

Karen kicked her in the chest. Christina grunted and stumbled back a little,
but recovered quickly and delivered a vicious roundhouse kick to the side of
Karen's head. She then grabbed Karen, headbutted her, and knocked her to the
ground with an athletic-looking cartwheel kick.

Whirling around, she spun to face a growling J.T.  Jake was lying on the 
floor, moaning.  J.T. swung a big punch at her, which she dodged.  She drove
her right knee into his stomach, then slammed her left fist into his eye.
She then balanced on her right leg while repeatedly high-kicking him in the
face with her left.  Her strength and balance would have provided a lovely
show for a spectator, but for J.T. they were just battering him into bloody
dizziness.  She finally let up after about fifteen kicks.  J.T. stumbled and
let out a moan.  Blood trickled from his mouth, and spots of blood also
stained his business suit.  Christina smiled at her skill, then performed a
standing back handspring, kicking her opponent in the jaw as she flipped.
J.T. fell to the floor, unconscious.

Karen was now on her hands and knees, about to pull herself back up to a
standing position.  However, Christina had other plans.  She brutally kneed
the brunette in the face, knocking her back down.  She then fired off a
couple of kicks to her head.

"AAAAAAHHHHH!" came a sudden shout.  Jake, who had finally gotten up, was
charging her with a loud yell.  Christina calmly stood and waited, then, at
the last second, stepped to the side and smashed her elbow into Jake's head.
As her opponent's war cry turned into a pain cry, she clocked him in the jaw
with her medium-sized but very powerful fist.

Jake, groaning, rubbed his jaw.  At 5'8" and 170 pounds he was considerably
bigger than her, but he was extremely out of shape.  He swung a punch at her
stomach.  Christina tensed her hard abs.  Jake howled in pain as his fist 
impacted the well-muscled wall.  With a smirk, the blonde then delivered a 
punch of her own into his gut.  Jake doubled over and screamed like a girl.

"Weak abs?" she taunted him. "Paul tells me you're always sneaking candy 
bars and potato chips in the lab.  Breaking the rules has consequences, you
know, like making you fat and weak, and getting you hit like this." She
punched him in the stomach four more times to emphasize her point. When she
was done, Jake found that the Chinese food he had eaten for dinner was
coming out the same way it went in. Christina laughed and waited for him to
finish throwing up.  When he was done, she kicked him in the face, then
crouched down and launched a brutally powerful uppercut.  The impact knocked
Jake to the ground, out cold.

Christina looked around to where she had left Karen, but the brunette was no
longer there.  Suddenly, Karen tackled Christina from behind, then wrapped
her surprisingly strong legs around the blonde's waist.  Both women grunted
and moaned as they struggled. "How do you like my leg power, sweetie?" 
taunted Karen.

Christina drove her elbow into Karen's face and followed it up with a 
vicious headbutt.  That was enough for her to break free.  She then wrapped
her own legs around Karen's neck and applied pressure.

"My...legs...are...stronger," hissed Christina. Karen struggled desperately,
but the blonde's thighs were much too powerful for her to escape from.
Christina increased the squeezing power as Karen's struggles grew weaker and
fainter.  Finally, the brunette slumped unconscious.

Christina climbed back to her feet and looked around with a satisfied and 
sexy smile. Then her smile turned to a frown.  Jake was no longer there. She
heard footsteps running down the hall and began chasing after him.  Although
she was faster, he had too much of a head start.  Jake had reached the far
end of the hall and was about to open the door when suddenly a leg appeared
out of nowhere and tripped him to the ground.  Jake, after banging his head
on the hardwood floor, looked up dizzily and saw Paul standing over him.
"Looks like your flight's been delayed," he smirked.

Jake climbed to his feet and let out a threatening growl.  However, by that
time Christina had reached them.  She crossed her muscular arms in front of
her. "You want to go at it again?" she asked.

"N...no, that won't be necessary," stammered Jake. "I surrender.  And it was
all Karen's idea.  She was the ringleader."

Christina rolled her eyes. "Save it for court," she said. She looked around.
"You have any rope around here? Or should I just knock you out?"

"N...no need for that," stammered Jake. "There's some rope in the corner 
over there."

While Christina kept watch over Jake, Paul got a length of rope.  Jake and
then J.T. and Karen were all tied up securely.  After that, Christina called
the police.

"The cops are on their way," she said as she hung up. She turned to Paul, an
impressed look on her face. "How did you get out of wherever you were locked
up?" she asked.

"Well, when I woke up, I found that I was locked in this smelly closet," he
answered. "I was trying to think of a way to escape and I had my hands in my
pockets.  Then, I felt this little bottle in my pocket and I realized that I
had a sample of a chemical I was working on that happened to be very acidic.
I poured it on the lock and the acid ate it away."

"Mmm, my smart and sexy man," she said, giving him a long kiss.

Paul blushed. "How did you get out?" he asked.  Christina told him about her
use of her hairpin. "Mmm, my smart and sexy blonde," he said.  They kissed
again.

"Oh, get a room, you two," said Jake.  Christina raised a threatening fist 
to him, and he became silent. "I guess that was a little cheesy," she
admitted. Turning to Jake, she added, "That doesn't mean you have permission
to be a loudmouth."

Ten minutes later, the sound of heavy police footsteps woke Karen and J.T.
from their slumber.  All three thugs were handcuffed and hauled off to jail.
After giving their statements to the police (which took over an hour),
Christina and Paul were finally free to go.  

The next day, Mr. Worth met with Christina and Paul and personally 
congratulated them on their achievement.  He declared that they would both
be receiving very large Christmas bonuses that year, and he offered Paul a
promotion to lab supervisor, to which he gratefully accepted.  As for
Christina, Worth offered her a higher-ranking executive job (which had
previously been held by Bart Berkman, whom Worth had fired after learning of
his prostitution habits).  The little blonde smiled at the offer.

"That's very generous of you, Mr. Worth, but what I'd really like to do is
be in charge of security here.  I don't want spies infiltrating us again."

"Consider it done," said Worth. "I was planning on firing the current head
of security anyway, for massive incompetence.  I think my cousin, who
manages a McDonald's, can get him a job there.  It'd fit him better."

Christina and Paul laughed, remembering how their old enemy David had ended
up working at McDonald's after being fired.

The following evening, while watching the news at Christina's place, Paul 
and Christina learned of the true magnitude of what they had done.  Not only
had they exposed Karen and Jake as spies and J.T. as their contact, but the
arrests had led to a massive investigation of BroadChem Industries.  The
company was found not only to be stealing others' research, but also to be
doing some major fraud and cheating with their accounting.  In the days that
followed, BroadChem collapsed just like Enron, WorldCom, and the walls of
Jericho.  The CEO and CFO of BroadChem were arrested and hauled off to jail
in shame.

Karen and J.T. were both convicted of espionage, kidnapping, and attempted 
murder, and were each sentenced to 30 years in prison.  Jake pleaded guilty
and testified against his former accomplices, earning him a sentence of 12
years.

After the trials were over, things finally seemed to return to normal.  As
Christina looked over the list of problems she had to deal with as head of
security, she knew that she and Paul would have many more opportunities to
hunt down more bad guys (and girls).

THE END

silverstar222b@yahoo.com