Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience.
 
 Sneakers

   It all began with a new contract.  It would turn out to be my toughest
hit, one that would cost me dearly.  Although, one can say it had all begun
years earlier, in college, and the outcome, well it was both catastrophe
and blessing.  I guess I'll never really know which.  It involved two
people, Bill, who has set the tracks so that my life would take its course
in a direction I had never planned, not even expected, and Laura, the one
woman in my life, the only one that ever mattered.

   I had just started in college and already disaster loomed above my head.
I desperately needed to break into the main computer system on the campus
to correct a small but decisive error in a work I had delivered.  My room
mate, Bill, who admitted freely he wasn't interested in ever graduating,
saw my gloomy mood.  He kept bugging me till I told him what was eating me.
At first he made fun of me, but then he came up with an idea.  Bill had
money, lots if it, as his parents were more than well off and so he owned
among lots of other stuff one of those new JVC digicams, a camcorder that
would fit in every pocket.  His idea was as simple as it was effective.  He
knew one of the admins from back home so he could visit the guy anytime he
wanted.  He would hide the cam in a bag and "forget" it on the guy's desk.
With a little luck, the cam would record the guy when he typed in his
password and then...

   I was about to graduate with no idea what I wanted to do after college,
when Bill who had dropped out of college shortly after our successful
attempt to steal the admins password, visited me unexpectedly.  He came
with an unusual proposition.  He started to beat around the bush for a
while, till I lost my patience.  He then admitted he wanted to hire me for
a not exactly legal job.  I was to get some confidential information from a
company for a competitor.  That's how my career in industrial espionage
started.

   My first impression of the new "job" was that except for the use of some
more expensive but still free available gadgets, like digicams and Flash
drives, nothing in the line of 007 was involved.  To break into a company's
computer system and steal data proved to be a lot easier than I had
imagined.  I never had to break into a perimeter.  I simply hired at the
company, sometimes as a janitor or electrician, but mostly as a cleaner. 
This gave me access to virtually any office in the building and as people
were totally careless with their computers, I had no problem stealing the
information I needed behind their backs.  Even if the access was password
protected, they would write their passwords on the table or on a scrap of
paper in an unlocked drawer.  I doubt that anybody ever found out he had
been robbed of their secrets.  Bill remained my sole contact throughout the
years.  He gave me the "contract" and I delivered the goods.  The pay was
so good that after a few years I could have easily retired.

   Then there was Laura.  I met her in my second year in college and while
at first I wasn't impressed by her beauty, as she wasn't the flashy kind,
her sunny nature and the fact that we simply felt at ease in each other's
company made me fall for her instantly.  For a few months it was pure
heaven.  She seemed so unsophisticated, so straightforward that I never had
to pretend or show off.  We were simply happy in each other's company.  We
spent every minute we could spare together and of course a lot of time in
bed.  It may not have been an explosive passion, but it was good, very
good, till, yes till I grew bored in a way.  One might say we simply
drifted apart.  We remained "friends" for whatever it was worth, but of
course that only meant that we still talked to each other when we met
accidentally.

   After I left college to pursue my "career" we never saw each other
again. Yet, even though at that time I had been quite relived to split up
smoothly with Laura, something stayed behind and sporadically I made a few
discrete enquiries to keep track of her.  I knew where she lived, that she
never got married and that she worked as legal advisor for a charitable
foundation of sorts.

   After e few jobs at home Bill sent me to Europe, because there was more
money in it.  I didn't mind because nothing held me back.  With Laura I had
stayed almost six months and that was to remain top of the list.  Of course
my job always implied traveling a lot and although I had an apartment in
Manhattan, I often stayed away for weeks.  That alone would have ruined any
chance for a long term involvement with a woman, but as it was I never felt
the need anyway.  On and off I would have an affair for a week or even a
month or two, but never longer than three month in a row.

   I found Europe to be both wonderful and strange too.  I started in
Germany with my first assignment.  I took an apartment in a smaller town
near the Swiss border and started to operate from there.  As it turned out
Germany was the ideal ground for my kind of business.  The particular
reason was that in Germany a lot of companies had dumped their own cleaning
staff and now hired specialized companies for housecleaning or building
maintenance.  Those companies paid their employees poorly and while the
Germans didn't have Mexicans for the lower jobs, they had plenty of
refugees or immigrants who for lack of qualification or better offers would
work for almost any wages.  It was no problem to get a job at such a
company.  They never actually checked the papers of the people they hired
except for the working permit, the equivalent of the American Green Card.
They didn't care who you were and what you had done in the past.

   With a little wagon or a vacuum cleaner I roamed the companies, having
access at any hour to any possible room.  They would even open the doors of
secure departments for me.  While the computers in the offices were
protected reasonably well, in the labs and test sites I found many
computers that were wide open and thus I could retrieve any information I
wanted.

   I spent four years in Europe and stockpiled heaps of money on my
off-shore account.  While I enjoyed my stay in a general way, still I
remained a stranger.  I missed the open friendliness of people back home.
And so I told Bill I was getting a little tired and I would like to take a
sabbatical.  I had expected him to protest, but he seemed to take it
lightly.  He had just one condition: one last job.  It would be a little
difficult, but the pay would compensate that.  Somehow I didn't like how "a
little difficult" sounded.  Bill wasn't the kind to overestimate obstacles,
quite on the contrary.  If he said the job was "easy" it just meant it
could be done.

   I was right.  After I had returned to the States I went to Texas where
the "target" was located and for two weeks tried unsuccessfully to find a
breach in their security system.  They wouldn't hire maintenance personnel,
they had a perfectly shielded and protected perimeter, security guards all
over and badge access at every door, even in the middle of a hallway
linking the offices of the same department.  My usual approach wouldn't
work.  It was Bill who came with an idea, although at first I dismissed it
as unrealistic.

   'All we need is a broad.' He said.  'I've found out that the head of
their security is on the lookout and there might be a little something we
could hook him with, if we could find a broad that would fit.'

   'Yeah, let's put an add in the papers.  Looking for dame who will risk
prison for a couple a grand.' I replied dryly.

   'C'mon, you don't mean to say you don't know one.  I mean, all she has
to do is to get friendly with the guy and get his passwords or whatever.'
He said, as if I had a whole harem at my disposition.

   'Man, I've been away most of the time, remember?  Whatever broads I
knew, they're all married or almost by now.  And even if I find one, who
knows if she's willing to play our little game?  Don't forget there's a
certain risk.  The way those guys protect their plant they might not be as
dumb as the ones I've raided before.' I tried to drag him down to earth
again.

   'And then what do you suggest?  Drop it all together?  You'll be out of
the game for good if you do that and who knows what my bosses might think
of...' he said, now a little annoyed by my pessimism.

   'Look Bill, gimme a day or two to think it over, will you?  Maybe I'll
come up with something.'

   'OK, OK, but don't forget there's a deadline.' He said and stormed away.

   And I did a lot of thinking.  I had all but given up hope, when a vague
memory of something I had heard about that company floated up in my mind.
For a while I tried in vain to pin it down, till it came to me.  It had
something to do with Laura.  As far as I could remember there had been some
hassle between her and the very company that was my target and Laura worked
and lived here in Houston.

   I tried to reach her at home, but with no luck.  I imagined she was with
someone, a thought that even after so many years did not please me.  In the
end I gave up in the hope to reach her at work.  The next morning when she
picked up the phone my voice almost left me, but then I told myself I was
stupid to feel like that after all those years.  There was no trace of
emotion on her voice, but she agreed to meet me on her lunch break.

   She looked mature and quite self-assured, a little heavier perhaps but
all in all she hadn't changed that much, except she had lost her girlish
innocence.  A trace of melancholy showed on her face, but that may have
been just a bit of stress at her work.  We greeted each other like old
friends and she gave me a perfunctory kiss on my cheek.  Her smell more
than anything else seemed to cast a bridge over the years.  Considering how
disturbed I had been when I had called her up, I was surprisingly calm.

   'You know what I've been doing all these years?' I asked her, after we
had exchanged a few banal questions.

   'No.  I have no idea, but I'm sure you'll tell me right away.' She
answered, her voice a little edgy.

   'Well I hope you won't be disappointed and I count on your discretion.'

   'Why?' she interrupted me.

   I could see the first hint of a frown on her forehead.

   'Maybe because I could get in trouble if you tell someone.' I said,
unsure how to bring the subject up.

   To my surprise she started to laugh and still fighting the laughter
down, she said:

   'Now c'mon, you don't mean to tell me you're a professional, well,
killer or something'

   My turn to laugh.  I looked straight into her eyes and said:

   'God Lord, no, nothing of the kind.  You know me, I couldn't hurt a fly.
It's just that I did a lot of money by, well I guess the right term is
industrial espionage.'

   'You're kidding.  You, a thief of information?  A sort of James Bond of
the industry?  And you really want me to believe that?' she said, not very
happy.

   The frown on her face had deepened.  I could tell she was beginning to
get mad at me.  I knew that it wouldn't take much and she would walk away.

   'Look, Laura, I didn't want to meet you just to tell you my bio.  I
called you up because I might need your help.' I said

   'And what makes you think I'd be willing to get involved in something
illegal?' she interrupted me.

   'Because of two things.  Don't tell me you haven't bent the law a bit in
your job, whenever you could help a poor soul.  I know you did.  Hell it's
been in the papers more than once.  The second reason is the company I'm
targeting right now.  It's Houston Measurements.' I said and lent back with
my arms folded over my chest and a naughty grin on my face.

   I had hit the mark.  She looked at my in utter surprise, confusion,
whatever it was that stormed her mind.  I could almost feel the battle
inside her.  It was a short battle.

   'What can I do?' she asked with sudden determination.

   'Not here.  I have only one question.  Can you take two or better three
weeks off from work?  Starting tomorrow?' I asked.

   'You ask a lot, you know.  But considering the stake I'm willing to try.
I had plans to go on a vacation anyway and they can manage without me even
at short notice, but I haven't said I'll do it yet.  I need to know more.'

   'Fine.  Can we meet at my place, at six?' I asked, relieved she had
taken the bait.

   She nodded and I gave her the address of the apartment.

   Bill was there too when she arrived and he was the one to lay out the
plan as he saw it.  His first question took me completely by surprise,
though.

   'Do you smoke?' he asked her.

   'No.  Never did.  I hate smoking.  Henry should've told you that.' She
said revolted.

   She was right.  I knew she had been a militant anti-smoker back in
college.  I had no idea where Bill's question aimed at.  Before I opened my
mouth to tell him something about that, he cut me short.

   'Easy, folks.  I have a reason for that question.  Don't get mad at me
before you've heard the story.  Even though I doubt Laura here can help us
much.  You see, the reason why I asked is that in order to get inside the
company we have to crack the security guy.  I mean we could try any other
guy, but I have the one information about this particular guy that might
give us the leverage on him we'd need to pull it through in less than two
weeks.  That's the deadline.  After that the deal's off and we don't get
our money.'

   Laura still looked puzzled, but attentive.  She had no idea where Bill
aimed at, but I thought I did and Bill's next words confirmed my suspicion.

   'You see, the guy's a smoking fetishist.' And he looked at us as if he'd
said it all.

   Unlike me Laura had never heard of that particular fetish and so she
asked Bill to explain what that meant.

   'Well, a smoking fetishist is a guy who feels an irresistible attraction
towards women that smoke.'

   'You mean, to get him hooked all I need to do would be to smoke a
cigarette in front of him and he'd fall for me instantly?' she asked
incredulously.

   'That's the general idea, yes, except it's not quite that simple.  First
of all he must dig the woman in the first place.  If she's old or ugly or
fat or flat-chested it won't work.  And one cigarette certainly isn't
enough.  She must be a real smoker and the more she smokes the better. 
We'd a been lucky with your looks, Laura, but you don't smoke, so it's no
use to talk any further.  We have involved you way too much already.' Bill,
the cynic, sounded really sad now, as if it had been his deepest wish to
pull the stunt and not just a "job".

   'Wait a minute, let's assume I'd be willing to take up smoking, how do
you know what he likes, how did you find out about this fetish stuff in the
first place?  Did you get drunk in a bar with him or did you steal his
record from his therapist?  And worst of all, how do you know I'm his type?
What if he doesn't give me a second look?' Laura asked impatiently.

   It looked almost as if she meant to go for it.  I didn't know the
details, but she sure had one hell of a grudge against the company.

   'Hah!' Bill exclaimed.  'That's the part where I've been lucky.  Or
let's better say the guy was sloppy, stupid, dumb.  You see, he's extremely
precautious, even paranoid when it comes to security in the company, but he
has been incredibly sloppy when it comes to his private dealings on the
internet.  I've traced just about anything he ever posted or ordered over
the web.  I can tell you in detail what kind of woman he likes, what she's
got to do to arouse him, what turns him on, what turns him off and so on.
You see Laura, I know for sure that you're pretty close to his ideal of a
woman.  At least when it comes to your looks.  I know what you need to do
to drive him nuts, but it involves cigarette smoking so you're out, sorry.
We'll have to think of something else.'

   'And what makes you think I won't come along?  If you're absolutely sure
I can hook him that easy, why do you think I'm not willing to try?' she
asked.

   Something happened to me then.  All my life I had tried to suppress my
own attraction to female smokers.  Even if a woman I dated turned out to be
a smoker I tried to ignore that, but generally I had avoided dating
smokers. It just didn't feel right to get aroused by something unhealthy
like smoking.  But now Laura, a woman I had once loved and still cared for,
openly talked about trying to deliberately acquire a habit that played
havoc with my hormones.  Yet I knew that if we were to have the slightest
chance to pull the thing through this might be our only chance.  Even the
thought that she might have to get close to that security guy did not
disturb me as much as the prospect to see her actually smoke a cigarette.

   'You don't have to if you don't want, you know.' I tried to stop her,
but even to me my remark sounded hollow, as if I didn't actually mean it.

   'Does any of you have a cigarette handy?  I might as well start right
away.' She said with determination.

   Bill took a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and placed it on the
table.  It was green and the label said "SALEM".

   'This is one of his favorite brands.' He said

   'So he smokes too?' Laura asked.  'You know, I can live with smoking for
a few days and then quit again, I mean it won't kill me, but I hate to get
close to a smoker.  I hate how they smell.'

   'No, no.' Bill said laughing.  'It's the brand he likes to see women
smoke.  As far as I can tell he never touched a cigarette in his life.  He
loves second hand smoke and smoky kisses, though.'

   'Wow, and what's that supposed to be, smoky kisses?' Laura asked,
although I could see on her face she had almost figured it out for herself,
just as I had.

   'Well, I'm not an expert, but it seems to be something smoke fetishists
like him love.  It's when you kiss a girl while she holds the smoke inside
her and then you suck the smoke from her lungs while kissing her.' Bill
explained.

   Laura nodded and then took the pack from the table and turned it around
in her hand to have a closer look.  She sniffed at the hole Bill had torn
in the upper side.

   'Smells kind of nice.' She commented with a deep sigh.  'So let's get
over with it.  I'll give it a try.'

   'Wait a minute.' Bill said and took her wrist in his hand.  'Do you know
how it's done?  Have you ever tried to smoke?'

   'Actually I did, but that was years ago.  It was in junior high, when a
lot of girls made their first experiments.  I was curious so I let some of
the girls persuade me have a cigarette.'

   'And how did it go?' I asked, hoping she wouldn't notice the tremor in
my voice and the sweat on my forehead.

   Laura shrugged.  'It was awful.  At first I didn't inhale and all I got
was a foul taste in my mouth.  Once one of the girls tried to teach me and
when I tried to do what she told me, I grew sick.  I coughed and then I
threw up.'

   'And you're still willing to try?' Bill asked.

   'Why not.  I can do it like the first time, just puff.  He's a smoke
fetishist so I'll give him all the smoke he wants.'

   Bill shook his head.  'No way, Laura, no way.  He may be a weirdo, but
he's not stupid.  He knows a lot about smoking, more than most smokers know
themselves.  You can't fake it.  It'll have to be the real thing.  If he
doesn't see you as a hard-core down to the marrow smoker of 30 cigarettes
per day, you won't get anywhere with him.'

   'And how do you know that?' Laura asked with a stubborn expression on
her face.

   'Because I've read just about anything he ever wrote in any forum in
cyberspace.  Trust me.  I know what I'm saying.'

   Laura blushed a little, more with anger than anything else, and then
took a cigarette out of the pack and to her lips.  It looked almost natural
and I felt a knot in my stomach.  I could almost feel her anxiety.  Bill
took a lighter from his pocket and then he started to instruct her.

   'If you want to learn this properly, although I have no idea how we're
supposed to do this in only a couple of days, start cautiously.  To light
the cigarette, puff.  That means you suck a little and immediately open
your lips and blow the smoke away.  If the glow has spread all over the tip
of the cigarette, try one inhale.  Again suck a little and now open your
lips and suck in the air through your mouth.  Stop for a second or two and
then breathe out through your mouth again.  Got it?' Bill said handing her
the lighter.

   Laura nodded and did as he told her.  She made of course the mistake
beginners often do.  She blew out the flame of the lighter.  It took her a
couple of flicks till it burned again and then she finally managed to light
the cigarette.  Now came the moment.  I held my breath and my heart raced
while I waited for her first try.  She took a short drag and breathed in
noisily.  Out came a thin stream of smoke, not very impressive.  The next
moment she grew pale, almost livid and wavered.

   'Wow!' she exclaimed.  'That was on hell of a hit.  Is that what a true
smoker feels all the time?'

   'No, not after a while, but it takes some adjustment and I doubt you'll
make it so fast.  If one feeble drag does that to you, it won't be easy.'
Bill said, his voice loaded with disappointment.

   'Then I'll insist.  I'll push down the nausea and try again and again,
till I'll be ready.' Laura said with more determination than her eyes
showed.

   Bill shook his head.  'No, that won't do.  You'll most probably land in
hospital with nicotine intoxication if you try that.'

   'Then what?' I asked.  'Maybe we should ask somebody if there's some
medicine that can help fight the nausea or something.' Although I didn't
believe there was such a thing.  But I was wrong.

   Bill gave me a pensive look.  'You know, you might just have something
there.  I'll have to check.  Laura put out that cigarette.  It's no use for
now.  I'll see you tomorrow and I hope I'll have something till then.'

   Laura looked for an ashtray and I got her a saucer from the kitchen. 
She started to put the cigarette out, but then she decided to give it
another try.  The result was even worse than before.  She had to put her
head on the table.  I took the cigarette and squashed it into the saucer,
then I got her a glass of water and she drank it thirstily.

   'Better?' I asked

   'Yeah, I'll be fine.' She whispered.

   I could see in her eyes that she was depressed.  She desperately wanted
to get a chance for revenge on the company and now it looked as if there as
no way she could play her role in the scheme.

   More to comfort her then believing my own words, I told her that Bill
would sure think of something, although I had no idea what that might be. I
wanted her to stay, just to talk, to be close to her, but she left, leaving
me behind with images of her holding a long white cigarette, taking it to
her lips and blowing a thin stream of fragrant smoke haunting my feverish
mind.  Till well past midnight I just sat there and stared at the green
pack on the table.

   'Heya folks.' Was Bill's exuberant greeting when he joined us half an
hour late the next day.  'You know, I might just have something here.' And
he placed a pill-box on the table.  It was a small cardboard box, plain
white, no markings of any kind on it.  Laura took it and opened it.  Inside
there were some small oval pills, white with a smooth surface.

   'What's this?' she asked curiously

   'That, young lady, is the solution for our problem.  Cost me a fortune
and I had to drive the whole day back and forth to get it.' Was Bill's
reply.

   Laura still gazed at him.

   'You wanna tell us or what?  I don't care where you got them from.  I
just wanna know what they're good for and how they're supposed to help us.'

   'Be patient, woman, I'll tell, don't worry.' Bill replied, racking our
nerves by refusing to tell us, but then he explained.

   'These are experimental pills intended for people who wanna quit.' He
stopped again, smiling at our skeptic expressions.  'Yeah, I know, sounds
funny, but actually they will help Laura smoke without getting sick.  You
see, the idea was to neutralize the effects of nicotine.  One pill and for
twenty four hours no matter how much you smoke the nicotine doesn't reach
your brain, so except for the taste you don't get nothing out of the
cigarettes.  We can try it pronto.' Seeing Laura's still skeptical face, he
added: 'Don't worry.  They have no side effects worth mentioning.  The
company that has developed them has made a lot of tests and they assured me
there's no hazard involved.'

   Laura took one pill between her fingers and I brought a glass of water.
With sudden determination she took the pill to her lips, swallowed it and
drank some water.  Looking at Bill she said:

   'Shall I try another cigarette then?'

   'You'll have to wait for maybe ten minutes till it dissolves in your
stomach.'

   We sat there and waited in a tense silence.  Laura's gaze was locked on
her wrist-watch.  The time passed painfully slow, but then Laura took the
pack and extracted a cigarette.  Bill grabbed the lighter and offered her a
light.  She seemed to remember quite well what he had taught her the day
before so she had the cigarette burning at the first attempt.

   'Well then.' She said and took a rather long drag.  A bit of smoke
drifted out when she removed the cigarette from her lips, but then she
sucked it all in.  I watched her closely but miraculously she didn't grow
pale.  The pills seemed to work.  After a couple of seconds she started to
talk the smoke out.

   'My throat hurts a bit and I feel a little dizzy, but it's OK so far. 
I'm not sick.  I'll give it another try.'

   'That slight dizziness, what can that be?' Bill asked puzzled.

   Then he snapped his fingers.

   'Of course!' he exclaimed.  'It neutralizes the effect in the main blood
vessels and the nicotine doesn't reach the brain, but you get some of it
into your stomach and the nicotine makes the vessels there contract, so
more blood reaches the brain.  It's like hyperventilation.'

   As he said it I noticed that Laura had indeed blushed slightly.  In the
meantime she took another drag, inhaled, then another and slowly she grew
happier.

   'So when do I meet the guy?' she asked after stubbing out the cigarette
and clearing her throat.

   'Whoa, not so fast.' Bill stopped her short.  'You've had just one
cigarette and you think that's enough?  I wouldn't want to know how your
throat feels after you've smoked a pack of cigarettes.  You will need this,
at least in the beginning.' And he placed a little spray tube on the table.
It looked like a breath freshener.

   'This is something dentists use often.  It's called Eugenol and it's
gained from clove oil.  That's the stuff that makes clove cigarettes so
easy to smoke.  It numbs the tissue so you don't feel the irritation from
the smoke.  You better use this in the beginning.'

   Laura nodded and took it to her lips and sprayed a bit of the contents
into her mouth.

   'Don't forget to breathe in sharply while spraying so it works on the
throat and deeper down too.  Good girl.  Now let's see how far you get. 
You'll smoke a few more.  We'll stop when it gets too much.  There's
something I should tell you though.  Not tonight, but starting tomorrow,
I'll have to train you on your style and we should do something about your
looks too'

   His remark about her looks seemed annoy Laura.  Bill took her chin into
his hand and lifted her head to look straight into her eyes.

   'But you said I have the looks...'

   'Look, Laura.  I'm sorry if I've hurt your feelings.  I didn't mean to
say you don't look good.  Yes, you do look like the woman of his dreams,
except you just don't look glamorous.  I mean you look like a very
beautiful woman who has two kids and a husband at home and just has not
time to look after her properly.  Some people like it that way, but not
that guy.' Bill explained.

   Laura nodded in consent and her dark mood changed into a pensive one.

   'I see.  Guess you're right.  So I'll have to see what I can do about
it.' She said.

   Bill shook his head.

   'I'm afraid we'll have to do a little more than that.  I've already done
some thinking.  I hope you have taken the two weeks off, because the next
days we will be busy preparing you.  I've already made some appointments
for you at a beauty shop and we will buy you some proper clothes two.  I
doubt your friend Daniel here will recognize you after I'm through with
you. The before/after story, you know.  By the way, Daniel, now that we
seem to have a chance, you should take care of the technical part.  Laura
may be able to bring us in, but there's still some work to be done to get
at the documents we want to, err, get.'

   For the next three days I met neither Bill nor Laura.  I didn't feel
excited by the thought that they spent a lot of time together, although it
would have been stupid of me to be jealous.  After all, my short intermezzo
with Laura had happened eight years earlier.  Also I trusted Bill.  Not
that I would have trusted him with my teenage daughter, in case I had one,
but I knew he kept a strict separation between business and fun.  Yet, I
couldn't but keep myself from fancying how he taught her to smoke sexily,
how to attract a man's attention by posing and all that.

   When we met, this time in public at a free air café, to make it possible
for Laura to smoke, I hardly recognized Laura in the ravishing woman
sitting at Bill's side.  She beamed at me when she saw my jaw drop.

   'Bet you wouldn't have dumped me that easy if I had looked like that in
college?' she asked with a wink, but without malice.

   I laughed.

   'How could any sane man dump a beauty like you?  Bill, you're a genius.
It's like in Pretty Woman.  Gosh!  I can't believe it!'

   And I sat down, a little out of breath.  Indeed the beauty parlor had
done miracles on Laura.  Only now did I realize what a bit of cosmetics can
do to a woman.  The thinned out eyebrows, blackened lashes, the glossy
lipstick and whatever else they had done to her had turned her from a nice
girl into a stunning one.  The mere nothing of a dress she wore revealed
almost everything and only now did I realize that her breast had grown
quite a bit since college.  Her legs had also profited from her gain in
weight.  She had been frail and thin but over the years she had filled in
just right.  I wondered how it had escaped me before her "transformation".

   'I'm glad you like it.  I feel a little awkward now and I don't even
like this sluttish look on me, but it's for our common goal, so it's fine
with me.' Laura said, smiling at me.

   'Time for another cigarette, girlie.' Bill said and Laura obediently
took a cigarette from the pack on the table.

   Prior to lighting it, she took the little spray tube with the clove
extract and sprayed some into her mouth.

   'I think you should try to cut down on that stuff.  It might look
suspicious if you use it all the time.  Better get used to the feeling in
your throat while there's still time.  You know, Daniel, she can do a pack
a day now with no problem, but I have to push her all the time.  She's not
addicted, so she feels no inner need to smoke.  But she gets along well
with the cigarettes.  I have already taught her some tricks and she's a
good pupil.  A few more days and she'll be ready.' Bill said with an air of
self-satisfaction.

   Indeed, Laura smoked like she had started in high school and not a few
days ago.  On and off she still gave herself away but only to the knowing.
Chances were good she would hook the guy.  In fact even without the smoking
part she now looked like the kind of woman to hook any man in sight.  I
took her hand in mine and asked:

   'How do you feel?'

   She sighed and said:

   'I can't really say.  I've got a strange taste in my mouth from smoking
and it's worst in the morning, but I can live with that.  Apart from that I
don't feel anything.  I could breathe in directly through the cigarette
with a direct inhale, that's what Bill says they call it, and it wouldn't
bother me.  The only problem is I keep forgetting to light up.  Apart from
that I feel naked.  I mean I've got the feeling men stare at me like I'm
stark naked.  I know it's just the make-up and the dress and underneath
there's still the same old Laura, but I feel so changed.' And she shook her
head.

   'Well you should feel proud of yourself.  You've got the pick now, you
know.' Bill said with a bit if cynicism.  'But let's forget about that. 
I'm more interested in your progress, Daniel.'

   'Well I've got the cams and the rest of the gear together.  All we need
is to have an insider to place a cam and pick it up a day later.  So Laura
has to find a way to make him take her home.  All you have to do is manage
to drop the cam somewhere it won't catch the eye and then under whatever
pretense pick it up a day later.  The rest is up to us.'

   'And what do you expect me to do, play in a private porn for you guys?
You wanna film us when he fucks me?' Laura exclaimed nervously.

   'No, you got that all wrong.  Nobody said you should go all the way. 
Just place the cam and then go home.  We know the guy takes his Notebook
from the company with him and sometimes he works at it at night.  With the
cam we hope to film him when he types in passwords and stuff, you know, so
we can intrude in their system.'

   Now Laura laughed.

   'I'm sorry.  I just thought...  Anyway, now I know what you're after. 
I'll just have to tease him a bit.  I'll do my best.  Shouldn't be too
difficult.  I've played with guys before.'

   The more I sat there and watched Laura, the more I felt my blood rise. I
couldn't believe how much she had changed.  As if a bit of cosmetic, some
fancy clothes and the smoking had turned her into an incredibly flashy sex
goddess.  I was petrified and aroused at the same time.  Yet I would have
to control my feelings somehow and ignore the signals my hormones sent
through my body.  Still I had mixed feelings about her smoking.  I knew it
was a fake in a way, as she could as well have smoked herbal cigarettes for
thanks to the pills the effect on her body was nil.

   I left them soon, as there wasn't much to say.  Bill said he would have
to teach her a lot more till she was ready.

   Another three days passed in which I had to fly to New York to receive
the cams from the guy who prepared them for me, turning them into
unobtrusive objects like an expensive purse or a briefcase.  I returned
just in time to meet the two of them again, this time in a bar, one of the
few that had a smoking license and where Carl Masterson, our target, spent
most of his nights lurking around and sometimes trying unsuccessfully to
get involved with a smoker.  Bill had found out that he never went there on
Tuesdays and so we could make a dry run with Laura without risking to be
seen by the guy.  Not that it mattered.  He knew neither of us, but still
it was better that way.  Laura would be more relaxed if he wasn't there.

   Once again I was stunned by the new being that had developed from, well
the ugly duckling one might say, although Laura hadn't been ugly by any
means, just a bit plain maybe.  When I entered the bar I saw her profile
and saw her exhale a huge cone of dense white smoke.  Yes, this was the
pose she would need to enrapture the guy from the start.  With a little
luck she would "catch" him right on the spot.  I knew.  It worked on me
too.

   I went up to the bar and took my position.  We had settled that before.
I was to just sit there and pretend I wouldn't know Laura.  I would
interfere only if somebody would misbehave and otherwise just watch the
scene and also test the new gear I had brought with me.  With the
technological inflation that had flooded the last years I now had on my
hands gimmicks nobody except maybe science fiction writers would have
dreamt of when I had started into my "career".  I had two cams ready, one
inside my jacket and one in a man's purse hanging from my wrist, the kind
only gay were said to wear.  Using the latest technology both cams used a
tiny hard disk instead of a tape and could each store some 30 hours of
footage in perfect quality.  The CCD-chip and the lenses had been detached
from the body and could be placed in any position to better fit wherever
needed.

   As soon as Laura was ready we would have to ruin an expensive Christian
Dior purse to fit a cam in.  We had decided to make a three step approach.
The first night Laura was to just have a drink in his apartment and film as
much of it as she could and then leave, but not without a promise to visit
him again.  We would than analyze the film and try to find an object that
could be swapped for a similar one with a cam inside.  On the next visit
she would make the swap and the last night she was to pay him one last
visit under the pretense of having forgotten something and recover the cam.
That was the plan.

   Laura looked incredible.  Smoking cigarette after cigarette in an
incredible languid way, casting veiled glances towards the males around her
in a way that signaled "Hey, I could use a man right now, but I warn you,
I'm not easy to have." she drove the men there half crazy, me included.  I
wondered how Bill had felt.  But then it was highly unlikely he too
suffered from such a distorted perception of women.  It was an incredible
coincidence that both our target and I were so impressed by sensual
smoking. But such thoughts were futile.

   Then it happened.  Laura focused on me.  It was against our plans, but
she didn't seem to care.  At first she winked at me, then she blew a kiss
fogged by exhaled smoke in my direction and finally she tried to give me a
come-over sign with her index.  She did it very discreetly and I could only
hope nobody noticed.  As if drawn by an invisible rope I stepped over.  The
place near her was free and I asked permission from her to sit there.

   At first I was convinced that she had found out about my little secret.
I was torn apart by the wish to give in and really try to revive our long
gone affair, now under totally different circumstances, but luckily I could
control myself long enough to realize that she was only playacting.  She
had just taken our "dry run" a little further using me as a sort of
sparring partner.  Of course she had no idea what she did to me.  She
assumed that it meant nothing to me.

   We played the whole repertoire.  I bought her a drink and then another
one, we chatted and she did all those little tricks, like touching my arm
slightly or toasting to me when she took a sip from her glass and all that.
She might have been disappointed that I was so morose, but than how could
she know?  I was too unsettled not to show it, but I fought it back as best
as I could.  After all she had nothing to do with my state of mind.  She
just did what we had destined her to do and played her role exceedingly
well.  She even pretended to give me her phone number scribbled on a paper
napkin.  When she finally left I felt a huge relief.  I couldn't have
lasted another minute without trying to kiss her and that would have ruined
everything.

   After a few minutes and a visit to the bathroom I followed her outside.
She would wait around the corner in Bill's car.  The three of us would meet
one last time in my flat.  When I opened the door of Bill's car a cloud of
cigarette smoke escaped.  I wondered briefly how Bill dealt with the
situation.  I knew from other occasions that he didn't smoke and he hated
second hand smoke.  Now he had to accept it on behalf of the job.

   There wasn't much to say, except that Bill, who had hidden in a more
remote corner of the bar and I both confirmed that she had performed
marvelously.  Bill left first, leaving me alone with Laura.  When the door
closed after him, Laura stood in front of me and looked into my eyes in
silence for a while.  When she finally spoke the fragrance of her smoke
loaded breath hit me with full force.  I felt the blood in my veins turn to
ice.  It was a situation I had unconsciously craved for all my life, but it
was with the wrong woman at the wrong time.

   Laura, instead of saying something leant over and gave me a very
delicate kiss on my lips and then she left.  I stood there unable to move
for what seemed hours.  I could only hope it was over in a few days, just
as planned, to return to either an unsteady and chancy life with one foot
in prison and no strings attached, or to take my money and retire where
nobody would bug me.

   I got little sleep that night.  We were to pick Laura up and hand her
the purse with the cam and some last minute instructions.  After that all
we could do was wait and watch.  We would take a table somewhere in the
background of the bar.

   When she entered the bar, half an hour after we had settled with our
Buds at a table in the farthest corner, where the dim light would hide us,
heads turned and followed her float towards the bar.  Not that she hadn't
been graceful before, but her walk had been more casual, not to say
careless.  Somehow Bill had managed to teach her to move like a model on
the cat-walk.

   She got her drink from the bartender, a highball, and then she took out
her pack of cigarettes and accepted a light from a man.  Whatever she then
said to him, he retreated quickly, much to our relief.  She might have gone
for the rescue scheme with Carl, as we now called him, but it would have
been chancy.  She might have scared him off that way.

   Laura had just finished her cigarette when Carl entered the room.  I
knew Bill had taught Laura not to smoke too many cigarettes in a row, as
while the nicotine wouldn't bother her grace to the pills, she might wind
up with a sore throat or a nasty cough.  Unfortunately her role required
her to light up right under Carl's eyes, hoping to attract him from the
start and Laura did exactly that.  Luckily it seemed to work.  She smoked
the cigarette with the same ease than before and with some expertise.

   The huge plumes of smoke she blew, with little extra trails of smoke
coming from her nose, were bound to drive Carl's hormones past the boiling
point.  Behind a frozen face Bill mistook as anxiety, I felt my own
hormones explode.  I hated myself for feeling like that, but I couldn't do
anything about it.  I hated Laura for having accepted to do that, I hated
Bill for his plan, but most of all I hated myself for the way I felt.

   At the bar things seemed to develop right the way we had hoped.  In fact
at a closer look it went better than any of us had hoped.  In less than ten
minutes Laura and Carl were engaged in a very promising conversation.  Carl
couldn't take his eyes off Laura and she?  Well she deserved an Oscar for
her performance.  But the more I watched them, the more I suspected that
something was indeed going on there, something we hadn't planned for. 
Before Laura had finished her second drink, they were off together.

   'Man, that Laura's got one hell of a talent!' Bill exclaimed after they
left.

   I nodded, not feeling like conversation.  I had a knot in my stomach and
a horrible headache.  Something heavy pressed on my chest.  I wasn't sure
what I had witnessed, but something was wrong.  I knew.

   Bill, who did not share my apprehension, mistook it for anxiety.

   'Man, don't worry!  The way she acted, she'll have him hooked in no
time. Correction.  She's got him already.  C'mon, let's go home.  The
six-pack in my fridge costs less than half a Bud here.'

   And so we went to Bill's place, an apartment not unlike the one he had
rented for me.  He hated hotels and preferred to pay a months rent for a
week only to have an apartment to himself.  Of course in our line of work
this made a lot of sense.

   I got drunk on Bill's beer that night, otherwise the tension might have
killed me.  That earned me more than one side-glance from Bill, but he knew
me well enough after so many years, even if one couldn't actually call us
friends, not to ask questions.  Later that night I stumbled more than I
walked home.  I fell on the bed with my clothes on and passed out rather
than fell asleep.

   I needed half of the next morning to recover and Bill grinned nastily
when he saw me, when he and Laura appeared around noon.

   'Let's see if we can send Laura to Hollywood to apply as
cinematographer.' Bill said.

   Laura, who looked as if she too had had a hard night, gave me the purse.
I tried to suppress my emotions and my hangover helped a little.  I took
the interface cable and attached it to the cam inside the purse.

   On the screen of my laptop we could first see images of Carl facing an
invisible Laura and talking to her.  After a few seconds I felt my stomach
revolt and so I started the fast-forward till the scenery changed to the
some blurry images of the street, then of a car and then to darkness, as
Laura had pointed the cam downward while he drove her to his place. 
Finally we came to the part where she had filmed the inside of his
apartment.

   'Fuck!' Bill exclaimed.  'Nothing, no fucking thing.  What now?'

   Laura looked up and said:

   'I think I have an idea.  Why not use the cam in my purse again?'

   'And how should this help us?  You go there and tell the guy to log into
his computer so you can film him?' Bill replied angrily.

   'Well, actually I thought of spending the night there.'

   I had to turn away.  They would have noted my crimson face.  The mere
idea of Laura sleeping with that guy made me rave.  I breathed deeply and
hoped they hadn't noticed how it had shocked me.

   'You don't have to go that far.  It's not worth it.  I mean, it's bad
enough that you're forced to smoke cigarettes, but to go all the way...' I
said, hoping they wouldn't notice how hurt I was.

   'And what's it to you, pray?  It's my decision only.  I'm not
responsible to any of you.  If that's the only way, than I'll do it, for
crissake.  I'm a grown up girl, you know.  I'll survive.' Laura said with
determination.

   I felt like someone had driven a red hot rod of iron into my bowels. 
What made it so bad was that I felt she was almost eager to do it, as if
she had already planned this before.  It should have come as no surprise
really, the way she had reacted when she had met that Carl character face
to face in the bar.  She had fallen for him!

   'All right.' Bill said.  'Then that's the way to do it.  But can we be
sure he's gonna use his computer when he has a woman there willing to, you
know?'

   Laura smiled.

   'You should've listened to the recording.  He checks in every night if
he's at home.  He takes his job very seriously and he wants to know.  He
has told me that.  Likes to boast a bit about how important his job is. 
I'm pretty sure he'll do the same thing whether I'm there or not.  Besides,
I can push him a little.  I'll take shower or something to give him the
time.'

   And so it was settled.  I had to wait an agonizing half an hour for Bill
to give her precise instructions where to place the purse-cam.  Finally I
closed the door behind them and raced to the bathroom to throw up.

   Next day Bill startled when he saw me.

   'Man, you look like your own ghost!' he exclaimed.

   'Guess this thing goes on my nerves.  I hate to have involved Laura and
I'm not even sure she could do it.  I mean, I used to like her a lot ten
years ago and even if it's ancient history, I hate to do that to her. 
She's not the sluttish kind, you know.' I said.

   'Man, she's a big girl, she can take it.  Besides, you said yourself
it's ancient history.'

   'Yeah, you're right of course.  There she is.' I said hearing the
doorbell ring.

   I let her in and saw a tired but happy Laura dance in.

   'Here guys, I think here's what you need.'

   By the way she radiated satisfaction I could easily tell she had enjoyed
every minute of last night.  I should have been relieved that she hadn't
suffered, but instead the pain grew sharper.  I was jealous without having
the right to.  I had sent her into his arms and now I was mad at the
outcome.

   Bill had connected the little cam to the computer and we watched the
recording.  Even though it was on fast forward, I could see how passionate
they kissed and how they started to undress each other.  Luckily they went
to the guy's bedroom and for a while we watched an empty room.  At least on
fast forward I was spared the torture to listen to the noises they must
have made.

   Finally a naked Laura went to the bathroom and Carl sat at his computer.
Laura had done a good job when placing her purse.  We had a perfect view on
both display and keyboard of the guy's laptop.

   Laura, who hadn't watched the tape, started to smoke a cigarette.  Bill
turned to her and to my surprise grew angry.

   'Why on earth do you still smoke?  We're done with the guy so far and
there's no reason on earth why you should still meet him and so you don't
need to smoke any more.'

   'Actually I just felt like lighting up.' Laura said.

   'NO!' Bill shouted.  'Don't say you've forgotten to take the pill last
night!'

   Laura looked a little guilty.

   'Well, the truth is I must have lost the box when I paid the cab.'

   'PUT THAT CIGARETTE OUT!  Immediately!' Bill shouted, now really mad. 
'Haven't I told you to be careful and always take the pills?'

   'Why, what's the matter?  Looks to me she can take it.  Maybe the
effects of the pill last for more than twenty-four hours.' I tried to calm
down the situation.

   'NO, God damn it no!  Please Laura, stay away from cigarettes, even from
second hand smoke for a while.'

   'But why?  You know that normally I would grow sick immediately.  It
doesn't seem to harm me now, so the pills still work, even after almost two
days.' Laura said, still smoking.

   Bill took the cigarette from her fingers and squashed it in the ashtray.


   'Please Laura, you have to understand.  I should've told you, but I
thought you would take the pills and stop smoking before you ran out of
pills.  You know what happens to you if you don't take the pills any more
and keep smoking?  You'll get addicted worse than a chain-smoker.  You'll
never be able to quit.  If you stop now, you'll just feel uncomfortable for
a day or two, but if you don't, you'll be hooked for life.'

   'All right.  If you say so.  Then I'll quit.' She said reluctantly. 
'I'll better leave you guys to your job.'

   'One last thing, Laura.  Stay home tonight.  Don't go to him again.  We
need him to stay longer at his computer.

   Laura agreed and left.  We concentrated on the recording.  After two
hours, Bill finally said:

   'You know there's only one way to pull it through.  We need that laptop
and we need it at the guy's place.  We even need his finger.  We will have
to break into his apartment and knock him unconscious.'

   'But doesn't he take it with him when he goes to work?' I asked him, not
sure what he had in mind.

   'We'll do it tonight.  We'll fake a message from Laura to make him stay
home and wait for her.  I'll knock him out with one of those wonderful
sprays I got from a Russian.  Then we'll log in and get all the files we
need.' Bill explained.

   He didn't say it, but I knew that after the stunt we would have to do
something.  It suited me well, as I felt a hatred against that guy like I
had never felt in my life.

   It went easier than I thought.  Bill had used a fake police id and the
dumbo let us in without hesitation.  Poor soul.  He was on the floor
unconscious before he even knew what happened.  Bill said the stuff in the
spray would make him sleep for another two or three hours so there was no
reason to hurry.  We managed to download all the material we wanted in
about an hour.  We cleaned up our traces and where out of the door before
midnight.

   Bill went to his place and I turned the other way, but only till Bill
was out of sight.  My steps slowed down till I came to a halt and then I
turned back.  At first undecidedly, then faster and faster I raced back to
the apartment of Carl.  With one of my credit cards I forced the door open
easily and sneaked inside.  Carl hadn't moved but I could hear him snore
slightly.  Good!

   From my pocket I took a cable I had prepared years ago for another
situation.  As I hadn't needed it back than it had been lingering around in
the side pocket of my suitcase till I had taken it out before starting to
Carl's place.  I swapped it with the original power cord of Carl's notebook
and placed a disposable lighter under the cable near the wall socket and
directly under a curtain.  Carefully I plugged the cord into the socket. 
Immediately blue sparks began to erupt right where the lighter touched the
cord.  I sneaked out of the door again.  If nothing went wrong, no trace of
either of us would be found in Carl's apartment, no fingerprints, no DNA
fragments and no evidence on his laptop.  Most of all there would be no
Carl any more to mingle with Laura's feelings.

   'I fear we've been outplayed.  I don't know, but I'm not sure this is
the right stuff.' Bill greeted me next morning.

   'But you had exact direction what to look for.' I asked, puzzled by his
outburst

   'It's what've been told to look for, but something tells me it's wrong
anyway.' He said.

   'Well, I don't see how this affects us.  We've got what they've told us
and we'll deliver it.' I replied.

   Not really convinced, Bill agreed to cipher the stuff and send it off.
When he read the reply he laughed.

   'Those fucking bastards!  You know they already had the stuff?  Some
fucking nerd broke into that system some time ago.  All they wanted was
that we break in a second time to steal the bait.  We've been expected, you
know?  Poor bastard.  But it worked out anyway.  Now they will believe
we've stolen the fake stuff, the bait and they will invest heaps of money
in that product, but then their competition will go to market for half the
price and that will break their neck.  They will never recover their
expenses for the development.  Great.  You can retire to the Bahamas or
wherever you want to go.'

   I slept like a log that night.  The tension had worn off and even though
I had gone far beyond anything I had ever done before, I felt no remorse.
The next morning, I went to Laura.

   Her face was puffy from crying.  She looked desperate and clang to me
when I stepped in.

   'You heard?' she whispered.

   I nodded.

   Dead in a fire from a defective power cord.  On my God, he's dead!' and
she burst into sobs again.

   'Tell me you don't have anything to do with it.  Tell me it's a
coincidence.' She said, louder and with a mixture of anger and fear in her
eyes.

   I shook my head.  'No, why should I?  I've been with Bill, getting the
stuff.  He can assure you there was nothing wrong with Carl when we left'
which was the truth.  No need to tell her I had returned to do what I had
to do.  I led her to her bed and helped her lay down.  She rolled to one
side and asked:

   'Please come here and hold from behind.  I need somebody to hold me
close.'

   I did as she asked, but she told me to take off my pants and shirt
first. As she wore only a large t-shirt I could feel the bare skin of her
legs on mine.  Yet, this wasn't the moment for anything sexual.  She just
wanted someone to cling to.  For a while I held her close, feeling how her
sobs swelled on and off.  Then I felt her stretch an arm and I heard a
familiar click.  She had lit a cigarette!  I pretended to try to stop her,
but she pushed my hand away.

   'I do this for him.  It's my way of commemorating him.  I don't care if
I get addicted.  This will keep his memory alive.  He loved it so much.  I
have cheated him by not being a real smoker, but at now I want to be one.
For him.'

   I tried to turn away but she held me back.

   'Please stay with me.  Hold me.'

   Under my arm I felt her chest rise and fall, rise and fall.  With every
drag, with every inhale, I grew aroused more and more.  It was a bitter,
angry arousal, but I grew hornier and hornier.  Laura smoked her cigarette
and reached for a second one, as if she was determined to chain-smoke
herself through the morning.  I couldn't do anything against the swelling
between my thighs, although it was embarrassing.  I held in my arms a woman
who mourned her deceased lover.  I had to accept she had been in love with
him, still was.

   Suddenly I felt her tuck at her t-shirt and drag it up above her hips.
Then her hand moved to my shorts.  Stupefied I helped her drag my shorts
down.  While I worked my way in between her thighs and then went on with
the hottest but also most bitter sexual encounter of my life, I heard her
flick her lighter occasionally as she kept smoking through our act.  She
only stopped when her orgasm sat in.

   She turned around languidly and kissed me long and hard.

   'You're like him, aren't you?  It makes you horny when I smoke.  So be
it then.  I warn you, though.  You will never know whether I smoke for your
benefit or his, but if I were you I wouldn't care.  You're only second
best, but the other one is dead, so it shouldn't bother you.  Take it or
leave it.  It's this or nothing'

   And so I took the chance.  I would stay with her.  I realized she had
been present in my heart all those years, even though I had denied it.  I
had always loved her and now that she smoked, she had grown truly
irresistible.  I worried a bit about her health, though.  Sometime, sooner
or later she would get into trouble with what slowly developed into a three
packs a day habit if not worse.  But one step at a time, I told myself, and
if it would grow unpleasant or disgusting, well, they shoot horses, don't
they?

   The End