All Comments on 'Protocol'

A good reading...A multi-action story: Love, espionage, danger, mobs...In all a well written story...4*

Over the top; but how can you fault that kind of love and devotion? This is a real feel good story! Loved it, five stars!

Your story started out really well, unfortunately you took out most of the tension by coming up with the added layers of security.

I think you should have had conflicts between the FBI and Dennis.

Mike should have been working for another agency and providing security for Dennis without his knowledge.

I look forward to your next story, keep writing.

Thank You for the story

enjoyed the story

In the real world, all the technologies we have can never replace Human intervention. IN the Military it is called "Boots on the Ground" Excellent story and statement of fact.

She seems to have caved in awfully easy on the old boyfriend side but when confronted by her husband she had the nerve to get mad at him for doubting, obviously angered that he didn't believe and trust her unconditionally. This after she had actually deeply betrayed him. She also screamed at him and everyone who confronted her about anything and even browbeat an ex special forces bodyguard into allowing her to do anything she wanted to do. Where was this fire and almost manic behavior when it came to the "blackmailer"? She slapped her husband and made him cry like a little bitch and then proclaimed that she loved him above all else and others and had never "slept" with her ex boyfriend although she did give him all of the information he so nicely asked for, betraying her husband, her family and all of their employees not to mention her country. Seems to me that after that level of betrayal giving up the pussy wouldn't have been that much of a stretch. If she was so loyal why didn't she just kill the ex in the beginning and saved the little girly man she was married to all the heartache and tears

Now we find also that hubby is not only emasculated by his wife but even after all of the shit he went through he allowed himself to be kidnapped again. The reason and the only reason that he had bodyguards out in front of his house was to protect him and when they were neutralized he just blindly waltzed out the door so he could be taken more easily. Should have had at least one guard in the house and more than one vehicle outside. It wasn't troop 18, BSA that he was messing with. These mob guys know how to do mayhem and kidnapping. They have strategy people that put our military to shame sometimes.

So to make a long story even longer. Do I believe that the wife is an innocent dupe in all of this? No. Do I believe that she didn't know where the company did business and who with? No. Do I believe that she didn't fuck the ex? Doesn't matter because what she did was beyond what a little fucking would have destroyed. Now she has a gun, presumably knows how to use it and has already gotten rid of the only witness to what she had done. Who's next? If I were the poor little husband I surely wouldn't want to find out.

Very well written story, lot of nuances throughout. Did I like it? Maybe. Don't like women like her. They demand to be treated as superiors rather than equals and are borderline sociopaths. She was too inconsistent in her actions to be a true blue wife. Didn't like him much either. He was supposedly ruthless in business yet when he confronted her he lost his balls and even apologized for talking harshly to her for betraying everything. He took her back without checking about the actual fucking and forgave her for and even hid the fact that she was selling top secret information to the mob. Gave it a 3 for the writing and continuity.

The wife did not have to have to give the information for the story to have worked. Hal could have simply threatened the husband with the release of the movie and everything could have gone the same, except for the wife screwing up. There is also a major problem with time lines in the story. Things that the story has going from happening in hours to days and then back to hours. Still a good story, just needed a decent editor to catch mistakes and suggest ways to avoid having the wife turn stupid and the husband having to come across as a bit of a wimp for not having her killed.

The English errors were glaring. Get an editor.

"Still looking around in shock I seen I was in a log cabin

He looked up at me and seen the state I was in"

Not seen - saw. "I saw I was...". "He looked ... and saw... "

"Mike, your guys discovered the FBI agents is working for

all external threats is literally destroyed"

Not is - are. "agents are...". " threats are..."

A little better editing would be nice. And I was good with the story until the ending. When he gets kidnapped the second time? It seems to me that no one would have 2 men just sitting in a car out front. Not with the given threat level. And upon seeing the wreck wouldn't he have immediately been suspicious and hidden himself in the house, KNOWING that it was a trap? Then you let Mike give Julie a gun AND bring her with him? That really messed up the entire story. Just too unbelievable (way farther out there then this whole protocol). So while it was a pretty good overall story, I could only give it a 3 for a couple of glaring mistakes.

A good read...if a little far fetched...but that's why its fiction! But you really need to clean up your diction! "Your" is a possessive pronoun not a contraction of "you are" that would be "you're". You also mix up your verbs by using "is" when it should be4 "are" etc., etc, etc....

This is about 3 steps more outlandish than any James Bond thriller ever posited. Except that Mr. Fleming understood the difference between 'here' and 'hear' (among a plethora of misused homophones!)

A guilty pleasure ... probably fit better in Fantasy ... or Non-Erotic.

3*

A little too out there for my tastes and a proof reading along with an editor wouldn't hurt either. 3*

That was a great tale and with a little tuning the english majors will shut up. Keep writing.

but it still was a good read. At least all the parts made sense, and there was plenty of marital / trust conflict, which is what I enjoy. In chapter 4, you started making more word mistakes, but I still give it a 5 *s.

The easiest 5-Stars I ever awarded

THAT is how you tell a story! Far too many people on this site are too focused on writing the next "Great [insert nationality here] Novel". I don't come here for that; I come here for fun. I want to be entertained.

And this was a hell of lot of fun. Reminds me of a StangStar06 type of story, but a bit more on the serious side.

5 stars from me, easy. Looking forward to more from you, my good sir!

It's all a bit over the top. Extreme. There was sex and a long trail of death. Even with all the twists and turns the wife got to keep her job? It was readable and a fun fantasy but the characters never felt real, the situation was not real, and the resolution felt unreal.

Still indulging in a wild fantasy made it worth reading.

good

The grammar and prose can be cleaned up. End of criticisms. The story, characters and plot kept me engaged to want to read more. Isn't that what every writer strives for? Enough said. Thank you for a great read.

Thank you for letting me know how well I'm doing. My sincere hope is that you enjoy my stories and forgive my mistakes. I will do better to eliminate the grammar and punctuation distractions and hope to leave you all with a more positive view of my stories.

Again, Thank You.

Gave it a 4 due to grammar errors, nonetheless, this was a great read.

Keep writing! a spellchecker program or an editor would'nt hurt.

This was a fun read, but too fantastic and absurdly over the top. But that's OK, as any James Bond movie is too. It became kind of cartoonish when Dennis goes out to check on his security team and gets kidnapped, like that was a big surprise. And of course this ex-real estate manager and gang punk out maneuvers his entire security team, with a dump truck crash? From there it just gets more absurd, and predictable. As soon as the wife said she wanted to learn how to shoot we knew who was going to drill her old boy friend, duh.

I think you made some character behavior mistakes with Julie denying any recent knowledge of Hal. Once Hal imposed herself on her husband how did she expect to keep her recent involvement hidden. Did she think the people who wanted the company financial records just wanted to evaluate their profitability or something? Her behavior and denials were unbelievably stupid. It would have made more sense if there was a gang bang video of her after she was drunk and drugged at a fraternity party, maybe? Actually, given the nature of this company and her position within the company, it would have made just as much sense if she had just given the Chinese government the keys to the building and the security codes to the computer system! So again, way over the top, absurdly stupid, or coincidental, or lucky events and actions, making the whole story more comedic than dramatic.

But it was a good effort and I appreciate you time and talent. Really, much better than average, for around here.

Silly and totally non-erotic. Check the difference between 'your' and 'you're', it does make a difference in the meaning of the sentence.

I found this story very entertaining, as I'm sure was your intent. Maybe I didn't notice the errors that have been pointed out, because I was concentrating on your characters, plot, and my enjoyment in your story.

Again Thanks

I had a hard time just trying to figure out just what the problem was concerning the company's secrets.

Needs editing: Too long, meandering, need to cut the "Mike story" detour, not enough about the betrayal (the whole point of the story). Too much about the Mafia, FBI, NSA and corporate security, not erotic, not romantic, not much feeling. Good action piece with a bit of editing.

but it was rather convoluted. Also, the story raises a few questions that are hard to overlook. For example:

- How does a guy with all these super secret kick ass protocols managed to get kidnapped outside his own house by a guy who shit his pants the day before? And with all these resources, why would you not be tracking the guy to know his whereabouts and what he was up to?

- Seems the design specs, engineering data and systems capabilities would be of much greater value than "financial data". I mean, you already know this privately held company make shit load of money on government contracts, so what does the financial data really get you unless you plan to tap into there accounts and steal money?

- I don't see a single sexual harassment lawsuit putting a mob run enterprise out of business.

Three stars.

Not a bad story, a little on the unbelievable side. OK I guess.

Thanks for sharing.

It's a bit choppy. You need to work on the flow. The actual story was pretty good (for me, at least).

The use of a good editor would have made this a much more enjoyable read, it was too long & often boring. Just a small point, you continually use " seen " when in fact the proper word should have been "saw ". 3 ***

I really like your story. Not at all slow and cumbersome as some have opined. Deep background is always appreciated. Without your character building it would have been a cliche. Instead it is a good read worthy of much attention. Thank you xoxoxox Annette

The last couple of months have seen a drought in good stories in the LW category This story has brought back some semblance of decency in a very weak field.

Good job.

I love a good action story. As others have said you have significant problems with grammar, your/you're, there/their, here/hear, seen/saw, past tense/present tense. There are some logic issues with the story, but lots of action helped that weakness. Would like to have seen at least some eroticism in the story. Keep writing and enlist some help to proofread and edit. Your imagination is excellent.

This is a decent STORY. Unfortunately you took time to write it.

The story is a bit windy for eroticism and may be misclassified.

Your biggest problem is grammar. You sound like an Arkie with all the, "seen." He SAW the look on my face," not, "he seen the look."

Those naysayers here have nothing but an uneducated stick up their asses. I write for a living and although yes, your grammar leaves a little to be desired, that is something an editor picks up. If they are worth a hoot.

Fast paced, lots of fun, great skullduggery and just plain enjoyable. Keep up the writing, don't let the morons get to you.

You received a 5 from me and I write novels for a living!

I commend the author for writing a different story than most on the site. Story would pace better if there was more dialogue and less descriptive narrative.

the NSA kills rogue FBI agents

eliminates mafia blackmailers

a private businessman has tracking devices implanted in his sinuses

and gets kidnapped

Twice

Let's see. The writer can usually spell but makes some hilarious mistakes, often words with soundalikes so that a spellcheck wouldn't be expected to catch them. The story is ... well, silly, often nonsensical and hilarious in the overdone power. There are grammar mistakes that the writer probably is good enough to have caught.

My conclusion? He wasn't serious.

No rating.

I Enjoyed Your Descriptions of the Husband/Hero and His Story, With ALL the Surrounding Drama! Great Story! I would Like Many More Like It!

... the homonym confusion is way too frequent: "to" and "too"; "their" and "they're".

I don't want to sound like a grammar teacher, but these are things you really need to catch. You also need to catch the missing words. Sometimes you simply drop a pronoun, leaving your reader to scratch his and head and figure it out. That disrupts the flow and intensity of your plot.

He bullshits his wife about her lack of trust claiming everyone was perfectly safe by bodyguards and then it turns our that the magical he clai m s can solve a ny danger actually brings corrupt FBI a nd he is promptly kidnapped and nearly murdered by the same small army he said didnt exist to endanger his family. Only a fool claims to have more power than t h e mafia just because they have classified govt contracts. Fortunately, the story is fun if you ignore his shitty treatment of his wife.

Your grammar & word usage STINKS!!!. Peaked should be peeked, here should hear, I seen should be I saw, you didn't use prepositions where they were needed. etc, etc, etc. Either get an editor ASAP, or learn the proper words & grammar!

I thought that this was a very good story. I enjoyed it. (I also enjoy 'James Bond' movies.) Sure there are some grammar mistakes but it is a 6 page story on a free site. I just wish that I could write something this creative. Thank you for a very fine story.

However, it is a fantasy and totally detached from reality.

homonyms pulled me out of it a little bit but I still had a blast reading it. Thanks for sharing!

- Ahaz

Like Ahaz said. The homonyms were off the charts, man. Excellent thriller, though. Nothing like a good mafia/government crime drama for an exciting read.

The only real problem I had with the tale was the blackmail itself. It seems that NOBODY gets the fact that to take power away from the blackmailer, TELL someone about it and what it's all about! But then, if a character did that, the tales involving blackmail would be quite a bit shorter. Sure, it might be bad for a relationship, but the sooner you tell your significant other, the better off you'll be.

4 Stars. It would've been 5, but the grammar and syntax errors were really bad.

Good story. I don't care about the grammer etc etc. fun read

I do enjoy this story. Far fetched but very good

The imagination it took to write this is exceptional. The actual storyline is very poor. Grammar is about 5th grade level. The plot holes are off the charts. It certainly had minimal erotic value. 3*

You have a good basis for a story. Get an editor - the grammar detracts from the story big time.

There a lot of holes the reader has to fill in with imagination.

Over the top, but enjoyable. The many homophones errors distracted somehow, but not enough to take away the enjoyment of the story. Thanks for the effort. I gave it a 5 starts.

But I liked it . 5*

still enjoyed it

....How much time did Julie have to serve for the breach of national security? Oh, so Dennis has enough clout to fix that, too? He seems a bit too omnipotent for my taste.

Also, how the fuck can he ever trust Julie again? So what if grainy 20-year-old videos get posted to the Internet? Who would really care? Come to hubby and confess at the first whiff of trouble, and all will be well. Oh, yeah, but then we wouldn't have a story, would we? ;-)

Decent enough story, but as already mentioned, it really needs more proofreading.

A teenager's idea of life and adventure. and poorly written, too.

i think a lot of the readers have no writing skills of their own .that is why they have to trash the writings of others to cover up their own impotence .i gave you 5 stars .this is one of the best stories i've read , and i've read a lot of them .good work .

boring

3starrs

It was too long, but I like happy endings and well-thought-out plans like the "hero" of the story had in place.

While I have enjoyed all of your stories, this one had deplorable English. Having just read through your submissions, I had not noticed the improper grammare, misspelled words, etc. before --- so I wonder what was different about this story. Usually I suspect English as a second language or writing under the influence of something, but why were the others not so obviously incorrect.

A good spelling and grammar checker would catch most of the errors and a competent editor would help improve your writing.

That said -- keep up the good work.

When I started reading this I was delighted by what I was reading. A seemingly strong man being proactive to save his marriage, and protect his family and company. The story was implausible but it was fun implausible with a good helping of cheese. But as I continued to read the spelling and grammar mistakes became too jarring and then the fucking paragraph breaks just fucking killed it for me. I stopped liking the story and started turning a critical eye to it. Then we got to the back story of the kidnapping and I was just grinding my teeth. The quality of the story taking a massive nose dive and then the kidnapping of the protagonist. I had to stop there. Dude, a fun and enjoyable story went to garbage in about a page and a half. The only explanation I can think of is that you just lost your passion for the story and just threw some shit on paper to finish it. I am bitterly disappointed.

Funny thing about the dirty FBI agents. Back in 2015 when you posted this no one would have given that a serious thought. Now in 2018 with the recent Clinton scandal coming to light? Wow mama is it very plausible now. Just found that funny

(He was right about my lack of writing skills)

The story was mostly OK, but I prefer characters who are based on human beings. These people were pretty much ALL superlative in some aspect or another. Life isn't like that.

And a CFO who doesn't realize what the company's core business is...shouldn't be a CFO.

Good story, suspending belief and getting into it. You're and your, and other spelling mistakes, took away a little in the reading. But , nitpicking aside, an excellent story over all.

Enjoyed it again. I'm no editor but I'm pretty good at spotting their vs they're vs there or allude vs elude and so on. I'm probably going to read your stuff anyway so I'd be willing to pick out what errors I could.

Entertaining read. My only problem was Mike bringing the wife, giving her a gun and having her shoot and kill her ex boyfriend. That was a little too far fetched. Other than that, well played.

So the story itself? No doubt about it - that's a 5★.

Sure, its overall resolution was pretty simplistic, but the setup and development of it all was still quite intriguing. Plus, it's hard to not like the characters in it - even dummy Julie! So yes, a great tale into...

... Kinda fucked up by some truly atrocious editing. More than once, a phrase ended right in its middle, for some reason, to be restarted at a next paragraph. I do not understand why it happened so often, but it did enough so to become quite annoy. Also don't know why the author felt the need to rewrite the beginning once again, at the start of its conclusion - I know, I understand what he tried to pull... it was just so unnecessary. As unnecessary as, said, given us the whole life story of Monster and Suzy - seriously, why did we, the readers, needed to know their entire love story? Hey, they spent the next 53 years together, until they died... and I needed to know that, BECAUSE? Nothing against those two as characters, but, if there's a marriage that would deserved a major flash forward, it's obviously Dennis and Julie's one, and no one else.

So, ultimately, it doesn't seem to be much, and I ended up happy I read it, but not looking forward for a repeat anytime soon. It could have been great, I tell ya... a good shot, but just miss the bullseye, though.

Sorry. I could not keep reading when you say there are numerous corrupt FBI agents. Not.

That's the way to handle blackmail , terminally. Good story.

Hell of a good story! Thanks!!

You repeatedly used seen where you should have used saw. You repeatedly used their for they're, to for too and vice versa. You used allusive for elusive.

Get Grammarly, the free version would have caught most of your mistakes.

What sparkswillfly you believe there are no corrupt FBI agents? lol

Like really really stupid lol

Enjoyable story only slightly hampered by the numerous grammatical, homonym, and punctuation errors.

But definitely the weirdest story I have ever read here. Loved it. The Bear approves

The BEAR.

This story seemed a.little out there when it was written. Now the technology is pretty commonplace. Still a very.good story.

Excellent story. Very entertaining.

Good story, but proof your work.

Read it a second time. Great story!

with respect

DG Hear

Needs editing and proofing.

All good ops!

No standing down until All hostiles accounted for.

USMC

One of the best stories I’ve read on this site. I lmt the plot. Quite well written. A few grammar errors but still very good. Please write more like this.

Very entertaining yarn. I know it was integral to the story but it’s hard to believe that Julie was gullible enough to let Hal have all their business records and not tell her husband or the police. But I will admit that that’s what gave the story most of its early on suspense. Thanks for a great story, gldngolfer, it was a thoroughly enjoyable read, certainly Five Star worthy.

Dee

Very good story. Well thought out, with mostly believable scenarios. Don't worry about the editing... Except for English Majors and Teachers, no cares about the piss ant things like an occasional misspelling, or misuse of a word or two. You got your point across and that's what really matters. Anyone in a professional position knows it's essential to understand the meaning/content of an issue and to routinely dismiss the packing it comes in. Once again, you did a wonderful job with your story.

Great read. Both fun and exciting.

Hard to believe the wife was that STUPID, another wife who gives into blackmail instead of going to her husband, plus it was implausible that the wife is the head of her husband’s company accounting section but had no idea what business they where actually in, wtf? ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Women's brains are just wired differently to ours. And they are brought up to think a woman is never wrong, God bless them.

Oh yea 5*****

Bullshit ending. Shit grammar; whoever wrote that grammar does not count and not to worry is just plain wrong. Especially obviously poor grammar as a characteristic of golngopher’s prose, if you can call it that. I worked with NSA and never saw any of them carry guns, but perhaps they have Special Ops group.

A good story, 4 stars easily. However, I hope he chose to verify the wife's version of events. Any time that a wife gives in and cooperates with an ex boyfriend; " blackmailed " or not, is outright betrayal. I am sorry, but in real life; she would have been dealt with. Whether some hole in the wall prison like Gitmo or a hole in the ground... She would be gone. Especially with a man like the husband and his business deeply involved with the Feds. JMO

Creative story but there is no way a crime family (let alone out of Peoria) is going after a company that does lucrative and continued business with the big three letter government agencies (not minor ones like thr FBi). Mafia wants no part of that. The vetting and counter intelligence and surveillance blows anything that organized crime has out of the water. They have easier prey to go after. Just whack Hal for his fuckup and go after some other scheme. Using Hal to exploit Julie is like baiting the great white shark. Also hard to see how in real life that Julie isn't made to disappear or take a long exotic tour in a forgotten cell all courtesy of the CIA, NSA, you name it. Those entities do not screw around. Too much at stake. Still an entertaining read.

Agree with some of the comments below that several things stretched credulity. But regardless it was wildly entertaining. Like the characters and plot was suspenseful. Not why some commenters are so upset with Julie. Yes there is the plot hole that she knew so little about rhe company and her husband's tie to government agencies and what the company manufactured. But the blackmail threat was real. She worried about the photos destroying her husband's reputation and her own. She refused to cheat else she would commit suicide. She did betray her husband with providing confidential financial information that would be part of the quarterly reports to the Board, but instead to Hal's mafia connections. But get real. The mob was threatening her family, her husband and their two daughters, with murder, kidnap and probably worse for her girls. Who wouldn't cave? Especially when financial reports? She would have gone to her husband if she knew more what he did for a living. She didn't even know about his kidnapping or Mike's role in saving his life. So yeah she made a mistake not trusting him, but the threat was very real. Not like usual weak blackmail that causes LW wives to screw multiple guys a week for years because they are afraid of photos being seen by their husband? Lol. Maybe once or twice to buy time in cases of severe legal or financial ruin and to get help. But the leverage here over the wife was MUCH more serious. She fucked up but not for the wrong reasons. And it is entirety believable that she never fucked her ex boyfriend. She despises her ex she seemed genuine. So divorcing her was not an option and besides she cared enough to kill a man who threatened her family. Seriously she knew turning over the company Financials was bad but it doesn't rate with other seemingly much worse possible scenarios. She never was unfaithful. Reconciliation was not merely justified but unavoidable the way the author constructed thongs. She truly loves her husband and daughters. She made a mistake. But together they put things right. As a counter argument, besides being Old Testament, if she had slept once or twice with her ex because the asshole threatened her family directly, and she caved, while tough to get over for the husband, and that even though that could warrant divorce, do not forget how much she loved her husband, willing to sacrifice whatever she could to protect them (after Mike let her tag along). Great story. Some plot holes but quite entertaining. Salud!

[10.11.23]

Fun Stuph!

11/10!!!!!

"Digging down deep I pulled as much bile I could and spit on the lousy fucker."

Thats where I stopped reading lol

For a company with this level of security clearance, the wife getting the financial records out like this would have been impossible. DOD contractors have extremely strict protocols about electronic data. Flash drives would never work and would not be recognized by the computers at all. The odds of that happening is zero.

If she somehow did manage to get it out of the company, she is guaranteed to go to prison. She would need top secret clearance to work in that position, you cannot work for a DOD Contractor without that especially when dealing with financial records. No amount of influence her husband has would save her from that.

I get why Julie leaked the financial info. She thought her family was in genuine danger and honestly anyone would have made that call unless they were certain they had the power to stop such threats. But she should have spoke to her husband as he pointed out. To do otherwise demonstrates a disturbing lack of trust, although you could argue fear got the best of her when her family was threatened and she made a bad call. I'd still be pissed though and it would take time for that rift to heal. Fear can make people do silly things. Just look at religion's influence if you don't believe me. So many people behave in various ways because they believe some all-powerful watcher is keeping tabs and don't want to go to a bad place when they kick the bucket. Weird I know right? :)

"I'm sorry honey, I forgot" right after yelling at him about keeping secrets when they're in the whole shitstorm because she kept a secret. That little trade was both adorable and hilarious. Julie is the best actual loving wife, smart but also a ditz at times.

Why would you put a tracker in your nose? Literally one of the most likely places to get smacked and thus have any devices in it dislodged or destroyed. Dumb as fuck.

Sounds like Suzy and Monster had a wonderful marriage. 53 years and 3 kids, that's a good 'un. Shame the Big C took him but at least he had a full life full of love and fun before that, and honestly what more can you ask for? And everyone had a nice happy ending. Dawwww! :)

An interesting premise, but the dialog and actions of the people lacked depth and logic. Not a horrible effort (and much better than I could produce :)), but you need to work on making the story more cohesive. One major thing that bothered me, there is no way his wife could be the CFO without having intricate knowledge of the company and government connections. If she was that ignorant, the husband would have had to purposely keep things from her, meaning he failed to trust her as well.

Julie: "..but I was terrified when that bastard contacted me and said he would post those videos. At first I refused, but he said if I didn't cooperate he would have you or the girls hurt. I couldn't allow that to happen, I just couldn't. He proved that he could have your hurt."

===> Why all the emphasis on the 20 year old videos and reputation (his/hers/the company)? That by itself wad not a threat and in the next paragraph, she explained how she rejected that threat. Then came all the nasty stuff about following her husband, her daughters and threats of severe violence. That is REAL blackmail, so rare in LW stories.

Frankly, she didn't know squat about the company or her husband's business (wouldn't shee need some sort of security clearance at the appropriate level to be CFO of such a company?). She had no time to decide. And she caved on financials of a private company. T

This is another plot hole. If she doesn't know what the company does, who it does business with, and anything about the technology or systems or clients, then besides some dummy names or shell companies on her financial papers, how could that leaked financial information hurt the company, let alone the federal government? The latter is ludicrous. The company only by reputation or the villains trying to do an elaborate plot leaning on creditors or certain intermediate suppliers (except it is mostly software).

So since she didn't know anything (which was itself a plot hole for a CFO to at least have some clue as to business operations and their products / services), then how could what she leaked be so damaging to national security? Sure maybe the company loses its security clearance / designation and is no longer an approved vendor and gets dismantled, but she didn't even know the company needed such things.

So to recap, she was approached with a terrifying real blackmail threat (ignoring the 20 year old sex tapes), had little to no time to decide, rebuked Hal's sexual extortion, and leaked what she thought (and in reality should be) non classified financial data about a private company that would have little to no impact on the company. Hello?

Yes she should have told her husband, but with all the secrets her husband kept from her, she knew nothing of the stakes, the protocols, the dangers (some which were exaggerated regarding the leak), she made a decision that with the information she had at her disposal didn't seem that bad. Again she made a mistake not going to her husband. But she was also terrified, and scared people make bad decisions.

And so what if she slept with the asshole once or even twice, if she did it to buy time. That was actual honest to goodness, serious blackmail. Imagine she slept with Hal once, leaked the data and told her husband, soon after.

Being an Old Testament guy, the MC would have filed for divorce anyways. Grow up! She thought she was saving him and her daughters, and guess what? Hal was connected to an organized crime family. Yes she underestimated her husband and his ability to protect the family, but he never disclosed any of that.

Heck, hypothetically speaking, if my wife was approached by a mafia-connected guy and there was an elaborate blackmail conspiracy involved, and a credible threat of physical violence or murder to our kids and myself, I would hate that she felt she had to do it, but sleeping with someone would be her being raped in order to save her family. I would do all I could to help her get through the rape afterwards. Now sure if she keeps doing it for multiple times and becer tells me, then we have a serious problem. But the first one or two times may be to stall and buy time to get help wirhout raising suspicion.

If as a husband, you cannot understand that and file for divorce then you are either (a) an naive, insecure moron, (b) an egotistical asshole, or (c) you don't deserve your wife.

On a different note, since when does the NSA go after organized crime families in the US, unless they are working with a foreign power. Don't they still rely on FBI, ATF, etc depending on the situation, to be the enforcers? I do admit that I do not understand the full remit of the NSA.

Anyways story was good, though beset with some plot holes. Quite riveting in parts. Well written and a nice diversion. 5 stars.