From Jenny to Mei Ch. 13

Her instinct told her to run, panic was starting to take hold, but something about the guy gave her a sense of calm and she really didn't know what she was doing. "You're not recording us or anything. Not going to call the police?"

"Just a chat. No recording, no police." He touched her elbow and turned her toward the corner, a Starbucks competitor just ahead. "You and I have a lot in common, Kenisha."

"Oh really," she said, following his intended path. "I find that hard to believe."

"People have so much more in common then they realize at first meeting. Any two people have more in common than they can know just from appearances."

They entered and took a booth at the back.

"So what do we have in common?"

"Well, I'm a blackmailer too, sort of. But you'll allow me to keep the details a secret if you don't mind."

"Really. How is it going for you?" she said with a tone that made it clear she didn't believe him.

"Wonderfully successful, so far. But see I have experience and I'm not shooting for such low stakes as you are. If I understand correctly, you have a great bit of material, a recording of Karla having sex on gym property, and you're threading to get her fired."

"You're wired aren't you?"

"No."

"I don't believe you," she said as an order taker came to their table.

"A latte for me and an eclair please, Kenisha?" he waited while Kenisha asked for a cappuccino.

"I can prove it to you if you'd like."

"Ok... prove it."

He stood up, walked to the back, gesturing for her to follow him. When she was next to him he pushed open the men's room door and motioned her inside. He turned, locked the door and began stripping.

"This is how you prove it?" she said, nonplussed.

"Can you think of a better way? Look through my clothes," he said.

"So, free balling are we?" she said, seeing he wore no underwear and remarking to herself that his cock was on the large side.

"Almost always, Kenisha. Find any recording devices? Any wires?"

"No. You're clean I guess. Give your phone to the waitress and we'll talk."

He dressed and they returned to the booth, their coffees on the table. He put his phone on the counter and sat in the booth.

"Did you like that? Getting naked turn you on?"

"Usually yes, but this is business. Frequently I try to merge business with pleasure but not today. Anyway, let's get down to brass tacks." He took a sip of his coffee, added some sugar and continued. "I don't want Karla disturbed. I don't want the mental anguish and I don't want her calling me at two o'clock telling me she can't sleep 'cause that bitch Kenisha is asking for money' or something like that. Understand?"

"Yeah."

"But from your perspective, you've got this great recording that you can use to make her do whatever you want. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity to take a little break and take it easy for a while. Is that right? And you want to get what good fortune has dropped in your lap and see how far it gets you."

"Ok... so what if that were true?"

"Well, we have to decide what it is you want and come to some agreement. If we can't do that Kenisha, you'll find that things could turn very bad for you."

"Like how?"

"Well, I told you that I've got some experience, and I do. I don't want you to take this as a threat, but I can do things, computer wise, that you've probably read about. You know what identity theft is and how it really fucks up people's lives? That's the kind of thing, and worse. It's what I do when I blackmail. You see, to be really good at it, to really have someone helpless, you need more than one item, more than one pressure point you can push on. All you can do to Karla is get her fired. But then what happens, Kenisha, have you thought about it? If she gets fired you have nothing else you can do to her, so then she is free to go to the police and get a lawyer and since she knows who you are and you have to divulge what you have to Mr. Williams you'll be shown to be the blackmailer, then you go to jail."

She felt her position weaken dramatically. She knew he was right, she'd thought far enough ahead to know that if Karla were indeed fired she'd have no more leverage over her.

He let her think, then when he saw her look at him again he knew she was looking to him for a way out. "And what is most disappointing is that you've ruined for good a relationship with Karla. She seems like a very nice person to me and she told me of how the two of you were friends, or at least close working companions, and that's worth so much more than a few days off and a couple of hundred dollars. Don't you think so?"

Kenisha didn't answer but felt the truth of his statement.

"So, here is what you have. You can get a low level manager at a gym fired. Congratulations. And the most you can get out of that is some, I don't know, personal satisfaction, a few shifts taken, a few days off and maybe you can get some money out of her. Karla doesn't have much money anyway, I mean not in the tens of thousands, so that's not going to produce much benefit to you. On the other hand, let's say I advise her to go to the police and they begin an investigation. By doing that she has pretty much guaranteed she won't be fired, no matter what your recording has on it. I mean, think of the position the gym is in. So what if she had consensual sex on their property, if they obstruct an investigation into blackmail, conducted on their property by a fellow employee a lawyer would rip them a new asshole. Think of the publicity it would bring." He tasted the eclair, was pleased to find it wasn't bad, and let her think a bit.

Kenisha looked down, stirred her coffee, looked about a bit then back up at him, which was her cue for him to continue talking.

"If, however, you stop now you can get away with this without risking yourself. You see, blackmail is about anonymity. You must first protect yourself from discovery. Once the mark knows who you are, you've failed and need to start over with someone else. That's the first rule. So, and this is my heartfelt advice, Kenisha, let this one go and if you really want to be a blackmailer, start over with someone else and keep rule one in mind."

"I don't want to be a blackmailer," she said, "I just... I just got pissed off when this little Asian tart sauntered into the spa and Karla just went all weak in the knees and shit."

"A lesbian yourself, Kenisha?"

"Not really..."

"Then...?"

"Not officially, I guess."

"I don't understand."

She looked at him like he was stupid, with a tilting of the head and eyes more open.

"Oh... I see. First girl crush then?"

"Yeah, somethin' like that."

"Are there any straight women in San Francisco anymore?" he asked rhetorically.

"All right, I'll stop," she said, instantly glad of the decision.

"Great, that's really the best decision. I mean if you had more then I might suggest an alternative plan but you jumped the gun, got too excited with what you had."

"It feels dirty anyway."

"Great," he said, "and listen," he took an envelope out of his pants pocket, "I was hoping you would decide that. Here is something to make it less of a disappointment."

"What is it?"

"It's ten thousand. And of course I want your assurance that you delete all copies of the file and I want a signed confession that you've committed blackmail so that I can be assured that if you do reconsider and use the recording to get her in trouble that we'll have no problem convincing the police to at least make your life miserable for a few weeks. I could do that myself of course, but it's so much more effective when the cops do it."

She saw the green of the notes under the envelope flap and thrilled at the prospect of having that much cash. "Ok," she said, not able to hide her smile.

"Just write up something like, 'I, Kenisha Smith, did record Karla Jones on such and such a date and used that recording to coerce Karla Jones into doing favors for me against her will.' Something like that and sign it and give it to Karla. I think an apology would be in order as well."

"I will."

"What about finding a new job? Unless you two can work together, which I kinda find hard to imagine, you'll need to work somewhere else."

"I like working there."

"Well, I mean, you should have thought about that don't you think?"

"Yeah."

"I guess you could apologize. Work harder than you ever have done and really show her you're sorry."

"She would never trust me again."

"Hmm," he thought for a minute. "Perhaps giving her something to equalize things might help."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, give her something of equal value that would get you fired. That would be a token of your trust." He offered her a bit of eclair by cutting it with a fork and making a gesture of moving the plate to the middle of the table. "You said you like her, right? Sexually?"

"Yeah," she said, taking the offered pastry.

"Did you find the Asian girl attractive?"

"Yeah, I mean I don't have a fetish like Karla does but she's pretty."

"Well do this, next time they are in the massage room, go in naked and ask to join them. Tell Karla to shoot a movie on her phone and that way you are both guilty of the same thing and your audio recording becomes worthless."

"Wow, you know what your doing don't you?"

"Yeah. And then I'll have Karla return your confession and then all this ends. And you're ten thousand ahead. And, Kenisha," he said, popping the last bit of the chocolate pastry into his mouth, "you'll have me as a friend and I reward my friends in really spectacular fashion."

"I don't know if I have the nerve to do that."

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained," he said, then, "I think we are done. It was really a great pleasure to meet you and I hope we have the opportunity again soon."

"And mix business with pleasure?"

"That would be fantastic, yes. But listen, don't go into blackmail as a hobby. It's very dangerous and if you're not good at it you'll end up in jail."

"Yeah. That and I don't like being a bitch."

"Super," he said and got up. "Goodbye, Kenisha."

"Thank you," she said, "What was your name again?"

"Philip," he said over his shoulder on the way out.

##########

He waited, unseen, for a moment, until he saw Kenisha leave the coffee shop, trot across the street at the light and re-enter the gym.

He texted Karla, "I think your troubles are over. Be willing to forgive."

He went back to his car feeling satisfied and drove to another coffee shop, this time in San Jose near the engineering college.