Margret sat around work after 6:00 PM. She had received an email telling her the Data Storage & Recovery team wanted to meet at 7:30. Since it was a four-star place, Margret decided to tolerate the inconvenience. She had finished the last of the work she wanted to do around 5:30 and was now debating whether to go home and change. Margret had eaten at that restaurant once before. Her normal business attire was probably not going to go unnoticed. True, she had on a suit, and a good suit, but it was a suit. This place traditionally wanted women in evening dresses. She did have several she hadn’t yet worn. There was time to go home and change prior to the meeting. She knew her companion for the evening would be changing now. With that, she logged off and left for home.
Yes, Big Four Consulting was going to be buying two meals tonight, and the second meal was going to be a real bitch-slap, literally. Margret had called Carol and told her to read up on FDIC regulations, then to meet her at the restaurant at 7:00 PM so they could talk at the bar for a while. Carol might have been the only female lawyer the bank currently had — well, had before consuming all of the other banks. Margret didn’t know any of the other lawyers at the other divisions around the world. Carol had been given the gist of what Margret had dropped on Big Four Consulting and Carol chuckled at hearing it. She had never eaten at the restaurant, but heard it was incredible. She said she might have a surprise for Margret when they met.
As Margret changed, she wondered what kind of surprise Carol was talking about. She and Carol hadn’t really socialized. They chatted from time to time, but never stopped for drinks after work. Carol had been a key player when it came to contracts for the IT department and she was typically well versed in whatever federal regulation they might be about to bump into. “Bump,” laughed Margret. We don’t “bump” into regulations, we simply choose to ignore them and avoid creating a document trail saying we broke the law. In any event, Margret was dressing to the nines and willing to let whatever happened happen tonight.
Margret arrived at the restaurant roughly the same time Carol got there. She assumed this because Carol was still poking around the bar looking for her when she walked in. No doubt about it, Carol looked hot. It had been a long time since Margret had sampled anything looking that good. They saw each other and Carol came over to Margret.
“You look great!” Carol exclaimed.
“Figured it was time to bring out the big guns on this one,” responded Margret.
“They are definitely some serious artillery,” Carol said without thinking.
Margret laughed. “I’m glad you like them. Let’s find a table around here so you can fill me in on what you have found.”
They quickly found a table out of earshot of the other patrons and ordered a round of drinks. Once the waitress had left, Margret looked at Carol and said: “So, tell me what you found.”
“Your interpretation on the FDIC requirements was pretty accurate when they are taken strictly. Many feel they are more of a guideline, but I have a few contacts who love putting the hurt on big consulting firms.”
The waitress returned with their drinks and Margret opened a tab with her credit card. Once the waitress had left, Carol opened her leather folder and pulled out a fax from an inspector for the FDIC. It came complete with their letterhead. In a nutshell it stated that while they had been somewhat understanding in the interpretation of this requirement when large scale disasters such as floods and multi-state power outages had struck, they (the FDIC) had no intention of looking the other way when a recovery plan required fourteen hours of flight time during good weather just to get the backup media.
“Well, well, well,” said Margret. “Won’t this be a major knife in the back if they try to play it down.”
“Yes it should,” responded Carol, “But it isn’t the best part. According to regulations, everyone with access to the data center or an account that can complete transactions must be fingerprinted and have a notarized Securities and Exchange Commission pledge on file with their signature.”
“I wasn’t aware of that requirement,” Margret said.
“Most people aren’t. It was lightly enforced prior to 9/11, but now they are stepping up the drive to get all paperwork in order. Do you want to hear the best part?”
Margret simply smiled and looked Carol directly in the eye. Carol reached into her leather folder and pulled out another document with the heading “Proposed Rule Change 86113B.” It was definitely written in lawyerese, but the gist of it was they were going to make it a requirement for banks receiving FDIC insurance coverage to use only U.S. Citizens in their data centers.
“When is this taking effect?” queried Margret.
“Still has to be commented and voted on by the regulatory board. It could be a full-fledged regulation within a year, though. A lot of international banks are lobbying against it, but the FDIC is waving around some documents from the NSA and Congress is talking about expanding the Patriot Act if the FDIC doesn’t enact this regulation. Within twelve months it will be either a regulation or a law. A regulation will just cost you a fine and your insurance, a law will send people to jail.”
“Well, no need for either Kent or Kathryn to know about this little tidbit,” Margret chimed. “His signature and those of the board are the ones on the contract.”
Carol got an evil grin on her face and said, “Now that is a power play!” They clinked glasses, finished the drinks, and ordered another round.
“Well, you have handed me quite a surprise tonight, Carol.” “Oh, that wasn’t the surprise I was talking about on the phone,” responded Carol.
“Oh?”
“Hubby is watching the kids tonight. I told him we were going to try to drink the consulting budget dry tonight and crash either at your place or a hotel, whichever was close enough to reach by crawling.”
Margret laughed, “That’s a plan, not a surprise.” Carol looked Margret intently in the eyes and said, “He doesn’t know. He probably never will know. But, I think I read you right, and I think you are OK with the rest of the plan.” The waitress showed up with their new drinks. Once she had left, Margret looked Carol in the eyes, raised her glass and said, “That definitely sounds like a plan.” They clinked their glasses, drank, and made idle chat while waiting for the consulting firm to arrive.
About half an hour later they were all seated at their table. Kathryn had walked in with a spring in her step and her hair out of place from driving her new Mercedes with the top down. Her spring died quickly when she saw Margret and her companion. Kathryn was still in her business suit, which wasn’t showing a lot of leg and the top of which wasn’t see through. She knew right then not one of the guys she had brought would be able to tell what color the other ladies’ eyes were at the end of the evening.
Kathryn tried to be pleasant and upbeat. Once the meals were ordered, her companions went right into the story about how they had partnered with an offshore version of Iron Mountain providing secure archiving services for documents and backup media. They even tossed out the second lowest fee for the service and wrote it into the contract before Kathryn could begin to cut them off. These guys were thinking with their penises. They didn’t even try to put up a fight, which was how they were going to get the higher fee.
Margret informed the consulting firm that Kent would have to sign the contract since it would require renegotiating with Iron Mountain and transferring all existing backup media pertaining to the migrated data centers. Carol chimed in that the closing of the deal and the transferring of media would have to occur quickly since the FDIC was in the process of cracking down on this very issue. When Kathryn inquired how Carol knew this, she pulled out the fax on the FDIC letterhead and let Kathryn read it. The second communication regarding the proposed regulation change was left in the folder.
The wind was really out of Kathryn’s sails at this point. She meekly agreed that she would have to make an appointment with Kent next week, when he returns from his work abroad, to get the deal closed. Margret volunteered she would get everything ready for the shipment, but wait to actually give the go-ahead on shipping until the contract was signed. She also told Margret she needed to be at her meeting with Kent to ensure he fully grasped the situation.
One of the men asked what the ladies’ plans were for the rest of the evening. Margret responded, “We planned on spending another hour or two at the bar before going home. It isn’t often Carol gets to spend a night out like this away from her mom duties.” Several of the guys offered to ply them with drinks after the meal ended and Kathryn resigned herself to another defeat at the hands of Margret. She still couldn’t tell which way that woman’s door swung, and the business suit didn’t have any man in the place checking her out. They were all checking out Carol and Margret.
When the meal was over, Margret excused herself to the restroom before returning the bar. There she used her cell phone to reserve a jacuzzi suite at the hotel down the street. Promptly at 10:30, the ladies called a cab and went to the hotel, leaving the guys both drunk and horny. Once they were in their room, Carol took a quick tour of it and spotted the jacuzzi. “Now this was definitely a plan!” she exclaimed.
“Yes, it was,” replied Margret filling the tub. “We have to do this more often. So tell me, how long have you known about me?”
“Oh, I suspected for quite a while. I assumed you didn’t make any advances because you didn’t want it to be known, and given the situation with my marriage I couldn’t be open either. Tonight I had the opportunity, so I took the chance,” Carol said while undressing and hanging up her outfit.
“What if you had been wrong?”
“I’m not often wrong when it comes to knowing if a woman enjoys another woman, but if I had been, I was certain you wouldn’t say anything. My cover story was already in place, and it has been years since I enjoyed another woman. Had I been completely off-base, I would have had to try my luck in the bar, because I couldn’t really go home early. I already promised hubby he could go drinking with the guys and watch the game tomorrow while I took care of the kids all day.”
With the tub filled, and them both disrobed, their evening began.
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