chapter 4

Tom pulled into the driveway and turned off the car. It was about half eleven on a weary Saturday night, Tom and Iain had just finished a long stretch at the lab and were exhausted. Tom would have usually gone home at this point, but it had been nearly five weeks since he had last seen Becky and he wanted to make sure she was okay. They only originally planned to be away for four weeks maximum but work at the lab had just been too busy. Tom had rang Becky a few times a week to update her and check in but it was always nice to have a catch up in person, especially after so long. Approaching the door, Tom noticed all the lights were off and there wasn't a sign Becky was still up. He tried the door, locked. He was pleased Becky was taking the security seriously. He let himself in and called Becky's name. No response. Tom noticed that there were a few dishes around the sink but didn't think to much of it. Becky was usually such a diligent person with the cleaning, but Tom shrugged this off as it was ridiculously late on a Saturday for a social call after all. He wandered to the living area. "Becky?", he called again softly as he approached the bedroom. The door was ajar and there was a soft light coming from inside the room. "Beck?", he said softly again as he poked his head around the door. Illuminated by the bedside lamp, curled up laying on the bed was Becky, fast asleep and only partially covered by the sheets. Embarrassed, Tom quietly pulled the door to and left. He then headed towards the office and as he approached he was surprised to see a faint light was on inside, which was odd because Becky was meant to have done closedown at the end of day on Friday. As he entered he flicked on the lights and instantly saw the monitor for terminal 3 illuminated. "Uh oh" he said out loud.

"Hi Iain, glad I caught you while you were still up". Tom was sitting in his car again on the driveway outside the office and house. "Tom, it's been five weeks, aren't you fed up of me?". "Erm, look Iain, I need to talk to you about Becky". There was a pause, "Okay" Iain replied cautiously, "Is she alright?", "Yes, she seems ... fine. You know I popped over to see her after we finished in the lab earlier? Well, with it being late I kind of expected her to be asleep when I got there which she was..", "She's allowed to sleep Tom, was everything locked?", "Yes, yes, I know, and yes she had locked up but that's not the issue", "Okay, well what are you getting at?", "Well ...", Tom paused, unsure how to continue, "... well I think she may have got access to some of the data....". There was a long silence. Tom could hear Iain suddenly take notice of this news. "What on earth makes you think that Tom?", Iain replied, sounding anxious. "Iain, terminal 3 was logged on". There was an even longer pause as everything started to make sense. "Terminal 3 is the main image storage backup isn't it?", Iain quietly asked. "Yes it is". Tom sat with his ear to the phone blankly staring out of the drivers window waiting for a reply. "Iain, what do you want to do?", "How did she get access to the terminal Tom, I don't understand", "Iain, I'm so sorry, I think that may have been my fault. You know when group 19 was ready before we left weeks ago.... well I popped over here to check the terminals before I left for the lab, I think I left terminal 3 logged in". "Jesus Tom, have you any idea what could have happened? We had all that data unsecured for weeks!", "I know Iain I'm sorry, but enough of that for the moment, what should we do about Becky?". Another pause, "We need to talk to her, as soon as possible", "When?", "Tomorrow, as soon as we have worked out what to do. We need to find out what she knows, we can't have any other incidents, it will bury us", Iain said franticly. "You know we are going to have to move this all in-house now don't you? I knew having the backups separate was a bad idea". "But you know why we did though Iain", Tom replied, "Yeah, well fat lot of good that did us. Where do we go form here then?, Iain said defeated. "Well I have given that some though before I called, I think I have an idea of how we should handle this Iain". "Delicately", Iain remarked sternly.

Becky opened her eyes slowly and stretched. Her hands came to rest on her tiny pot belly, which seemed to have appeared all by itself over the past month. She felt it in her hands and gave it a little squeeze, it was tight and firm. Becky was still quite full from the pizzas and wine she had consumed over Friday and Saturday evening. Becky had inadvertently gained a little weight over the past few weeks whilst she had been alone, as her evenings had mainly consisted of wine, pizza and terminal 3. "Hmmph, I think I should lay off the pizza", she thought to herself. She ran a finger under the little ridge of her pot belly where it poked out a little over her knickers. Becky got up of the bed and looked down at her tiny little pot belly in front of her and held it in both hands. It was barely noticeable. A flush went through her, Becky immediately let go in shame. She still felt very uneasy and wasn't sure if she liked this kink or not, but she couldn't deny how it was strangely provocative. She bent down to pick up some underwear and this caused the beginnings of a tiny roll to form on her tummy, she gently ran it between her fingers and gave it a pinch. She was in a little denial, but deep down she suspected she wasn't too bothered these tiny changes. She now almost constantly thought about the girls she had been looking at for the past month, she still wondered about them, feeling guilt about the intentions of what she was witnessing, but she was just too engrossed in it for her to resist, and, shamefully, she wanted more. She put on a dressing gown and walked through to the kitchen. Seeing the answer phone flashing she pressed the button and listened whilst making a coffee ... It was Iain and Tom. "Shit, they are coming today?? Has it been that long already?? I better get this place straight". Becky started working right away.