They both seemed to think this was hilarious, as they sat waiting for Peter to react. Richie leant in close to Peter, nodded her head in the direction of the two idiots and said,
"Aren't you going to say something?"
"It's not worth it," he whispered back, hoping the whole thing would just go away.
But Richie had other ideas. With the two drunken rugby players laughing louder than ever now, bringing their antics to the attention of the rest of the clubhouse, a mischievous glint flickered briefly in Richie's eyes. Before he could stop her, she stood and addressed the two rugby players, in a very loud and very confident voice.
"You two so-called real men think you're tough eh? I'll arm wrestle you both at the same time and still win. How about that?"
Everyone had now focused their attention on what was happening, including all the staff. If nothing else, the challenge had momentarily wiped the smile from the two drunken rugby players’ faces because they, like most there, were well aware of Richie's reputation, not only as a supreme athlete, but as someone capable of 'pulling a rabbit out of a hat' anytime she liked, so to speak. Deep down they knew her to be formidable and not someone to be trifled with, but as they looked her up and down, taking in her diminutive frame and her skinny little biceps, the alcohol kicked in.
"No problem luv," said one, as they simultaneously slammed their fists down on the table.
Almost as one, the rest of the room shook their head, rubbed their eyes, and then SMILED! As everyone slowly gathered round to watch, the two rugby players took a seat next to each other.
"You sure you wanna do us both at the same time?" one tittered.
Again the crowd shook their heads, all speculating inside their minds about the amount of humiliation that was about to be dished out.
"We'll try not to hurt you luv," slurred the slightly less drunk of the two.
This was going to be BAD!
Richie sat relaxed in her chair, smiling confidently at the two fools, as she put both her elbows on the table and offered out her petite hands. Having a pretty good idea of just how this was going to go, Peter couldn't watch. Once each of the rugby players had taken a hand, someone in the crowd started to count down.
"5... 4..."
The rugby players’ biceps positively bulged as their arms tensed.
"3... 2..."
The smile still on her face, Richie closed her eyes and...
"1!"
SMASH!!!!!!!! The two rugby players yelped with pain as their bruised hands bounced back up from the undamaged table.
"Thanks guys," Richie scoffed, as she got up and performed a mock bow for the crowd, who all, right on cue, erupted with applause and laughter.
Heading off through the crowd towards the bar, the two rugby players were mocked and ridiculed relentlessly.
Dropping back into her seat opposite Peter, with everyone having dispersed, Richie took a big swig of her drink, before looking at Peter and saying,
"That's how you handle them."
"That's not really how we're supposed to do things... is it?" replied Peter, rolling his eyes for effect.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah."
"It's not exactly BLENDING in, is it?" he whispered, sternly. "If the Council heard about all this, you'd be in so much trouble."
"You don't get it Pete. I don't care. Some of these humans desperately need some lessons in manners."
"I can't say I disagree with you. But it's not your job to teach them."
"Isn't it?!" declared Richie. "I don't stop being who or WHAT I am as soon as the clock strikes five and I head for home every day. And you can't tell me you don't either. So why shouldn't our mandate extend a little further? If you ask me, our roles do extend outside our jobs, and this is exactly the kind of thing we should be doing."
Abruptly the two friends brought their conversation to a halt, realising that someone was approaching the table. Richie's beautiful face cracked a grin as one of the shamed, arm wrestling rugby players approached carrying fresh drinks for them both.
"We're both very sorry... and... um... have both learned a valuable lesson today," he managed to stutter, looking as though he'd sobered up considerably over the course of the last few minutes.
"Good," quipped Richie, raising the fresh glass in his direction, the natural balance of things restored, with her looking cooler than a polar bear in the Arctic, eating an ice cream, sponsored by Ferrari.
With the ambient noise having dropped to its lowest since he'd arrived, Peter figured now was his chance to talk to his friend about work.
"So, how's your day been Rich?" he asked.
Still smirking from her easily won victory, she pondered the question for a few seconds before replying.
"Pretty quiet really. Health and safety training this morning, which was all over by lunch time, so quite an easy afternoon."
"You haven't heard then, about a new consultant guy that Garrett's brought in?"
"Oh you mean Major Manson."
"That's the one," muttered Peter, frowning.
"What a charming man. We were all introduced to him this afternoon when Al showed him around our offices. I'd say he'll fit in nicely around here."
"WHAT!!!" fumed Peter, nearly knocking over his drink. "You've got to be kidding me!"
A worried look on her face, Richie leaned across the table and took hold of Peter's hand.
"What is it? What's the matter?"
He snatched his hand away from Richie's grasp, shaking ever so slightly. Richie decided she'd wait for him to explain what the problem was. Letting his anger drift away, after a short while he took a sip of his drink, looked his friend in the face, and continued.
"Could you not see how he was manipulating Garrett?"
"What on earth do you mean?" she responded, puzzled.
Trying his best to keep calm, he said,
"Major Manson, the guy from Darktech, has got some sort of hold on Garrett... I'm sure of it."
"What makes you say that?"
Over the next fifteen minutes, Peter explained what had happened that day, particularly the encounter with Manson in Garrett's office, the darkness, the smell, the odd behaviour... all of it. Richie listened intently, not interrupting once. After having finished, he waited patiently for her take in his views, giving her the time and space she'd afforded him earlier. Not knowing quite what to make of Peter's account, she dived in head first, explaining how they'd been introduced that afternoon by Garrett, and how after the guided tour, all of her colleagues had gone on and on about just how considerate, witty and charming the new man had seemed. Almost the perfect gentleman you could say. Needless to say, Richie's experience was almost a polar opposite to his encounter, and was about as far removed as it was possible to be. Richie rounded off her tale by saying that Al Garrett had dropped by much later on, to ask the staff's opinion of Manson. Everyone had told him what they thought, with nearly all agreeing that they'd be happy to report to him regularly. For his part, Garrett went on to explain the reason for Manson being there was to gain fresh perspective and insight into the way the company operates, and to take a little bit of the responsibility and pressure away from himself, which everyone agreed, after he'd left, could only be a good thing.
After Richie had finished recounting her story, the two friends sat in silence for a good few minutes, both gazing into the bottom of their almost drained glasses. By this time the clubhouse was nearly empty, but that didn't stop Peter from looking around conspiratorially, making sure no one was listening in.
"Listen Rich, I know from everything you've said, that you can't see anything untoward in what's going on, but I swear to you on our friendship that there's something very wrong with this Manson guy."