Umm..sorry for the wait? 3/10
The first time Laura kisses Milton is two weeks into the assignment. It was November, the leaves on the trees just changing colors, standing under a yellow oak on the university campus. It was a sweet, lingering kiss and Milton’s eyes were melancholy as he said that he would be going back to Canada in a month, and he wished they’d done this sooner. Laura had smiled softly in reply, the knowledge of their inevitable separation settling like a cloak around them. That was step one.
Step two was slightly more complicated. She played a week long game with him, working him up and backing off, under the guise of “taking it slow” and “abiding the law” until he was absolutely desperate. She corners him in the library with only three weeks to go, after dropping hint after hint on how “there just isn’t any safe place around here” and gets him to suggest they use the special volumes room that he only he has access to. She reluctantly agrees.
Step three is luring him into complacency. It becomes their routine, to sneak into the room and make out vigorously, but only make out, until he gets so used to her presence that he leaves her alone in there while he fetches things. She does subtle recon, because obviously there are cameras and the security guards aren’t quite on her side yet, but the fact that he hasn’t gotten into trouble means that her being there is acceptable, if it keeps Milton happy and doesn’t interfere with his work. Her background check is clean, her records flawless. She is exactly who she appears to be.
Step four is the hardest part. She can get in, easily enough, she can be alone, easily enough, but he only ever leaves for ten minutes, tops, and she needs more time to find what she’s looking for. So, how does she incapacitate him, without seeming to incapacitate him, and access his personal files, which he has yet to take out and work on in her presence? It takes her an hour to come to the obvious conclusion.
.
Step two was slightly more complicated. She played a week long game with him, working him up and backing off, under the guise of “taking it slow” and “abiding the law” until he was absolutely desperate. She corners him in the library with only three weeks to go, after dropping hint after hint on how “there just isn’t any safe place around here” and gets him to suggest they use the special volumes room that he only he has access to. She reluctantly agrees.
Step three is luring him into complacency. It becomes their routine, to sneak into the room and make out vigorously, but only make out, until he gets so used to her presence that he leaves her alone in there while he fetches things. She does subtle recon, because obviously there are cameras and the security guards aren’t quite on her side yet, but the fact that he hasn’t gotten into trouble means that her being there is acceptable, if it keeps Milton happy and doesn’t interfere with his work. Her background check is clean, her records flawless. She is exactly who she appears to be.
Step four is the hardest part. She can get in, easily enough, she can be alone, easily enough, but he only ever leaves for ten minutes, tops, and she needs more time to find what she’s looking for. So, how does she incapacitate him, without seeming to incapacitate him, and access his personal files, which he has yet to take out and work on in her presence? It takes her an hour to come to the obvious conclusion.
.