Chapter 2

Thank God, we were not staying where we landed. A car and driver was taking us into the City, Midtown, at Times Square, and The Marriott Marquis on Broadway to be exact. My guess that Disney store nearby would be as close to the ‘Mouse’ that Nadia would get. Lot of theater was there but not much in the way of retail shopping. Plenty of street vendors and discount places though. I think Sylvia may have picked out our place to stay, she loved shows.

I looked over at Nadia sleeping next to us. She had her eyes closed and one could only imagine how formidable she would become when she was older. I saw another side of her that morning; it was as if I was looking at a younger me. Both of us seemed to have grown up fast and also had been exposed to the harsh realties of life even faster. If the number of languages we spoke was any indication, she might even be ahead of me on that score.

I wondered if she ever had a moment to herself to do anything of her choosing, ‘probably not’, I answered myself. I did not notice her eyes were open now and she was looking at me. They say the eyes are a window to look into and see the very soul. ‘Such sad looking eyes’ I thought, as if she could hear me, she smiled. Her smile though, would stop traffic. Sylvia was right, this girl was ‘Evil’, or maybe that was the way she had to be and never knew she might be any other way.

She probably had her own ‘Masters’ too, something I understood better than most.

I shook my head. Her eyes were closed again. I did see her smile, didn’t I? Sylvia did not miss a thing either, her eyes were open too. Her prediction about me becoming the girl’s slave was fated perhaps. Nadia was not the same gender but in many ways reminded me of someone who was my friend. That memory still haunted me and brought tears to my eyes. A small hand lightly touched mine; it touched my very soul too. Miranda indeed may have been a more appropriate name for her, not Esmeralda; mine Prospero.

Note: Esmeralda was a witch in Victor Hugo’s Hunchback of Notre-Dame. In William Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’, Miranda was a girl Prospero cared about and wanted to see experience happiness in her future.

At the hotel, we had a small suite on the 17th floor. There were three bedrooms but I was advised Sylvia and Nadia would be in the same room.

“Unless...” Nadia started to say.

Sylvia had to stop her short to remind me that it was not even evening yet and to be careful. “This girl works quickly!” She said.

Up until then Nadia as a partner had not even crossed my mind, right, maybe once or twice it had, but only briefly.

We ordered room service for lunch. Dinner would be in the Hotel at one of its better restaurants. Not a lot to do unless we went out somewhere. Both Sylvia and Nadia wanted that so I handed them some brochures and told them to make a list, I would check it and we would see about going out. I thought that was nice of me and I did not deserve the five-finger salute from both of them or being called some endearing name. I was in-charge I wanted to shout.

I suggested a nap after lunch. I wanted to swat them when they ran off to their room, the big one with the attached bathroom, singing, ‘Nappie time, nappie time’ all the way. It made you wonder who was the minder and who was the child.

I wanted to put in a request for ‘Hazardous Duty’ pay like the military got.

I never asked either of them why the handoff. In my orders some possible ‘unpleasantness’ was deemed very probable. Nadia’s father was part of the ‘Politburo’ which made Nadia a target. Whoever held her would, or should, I would think, have some influence on her father.

Possible ‘bad guys’ were terrorists, separatists, loyalist to the old regime and a dozen others. That being possible, made this a bit of a problem. There also was the question how ‘we’ ever had gotten involved. But, as I said, ‘mine is not to ask, just do or... ‘ and the last option I did not much care for.

Sleep is a wonderful thing. It rejuvenates you, relaxes any tension and makes the person feel whole again, unless ... I caught the unless option this afternoon.

First it was Genie, now Nadia, even Sylvia was back in my life, at least for a while it seemed. It was as if they had planned all this. All of us were supposed to be together on this trip. They even knew about Genie before I had told them, no surprise to them it seemed, they even called her my ‘girlfriend’. Maybe it was just me. I was beginning to feel like ‘Dudley DoRight of the Mounties’ rescuing Nell.

Now I was sounding more like them, suspicious to the nth degree. How and why they were ‘babysitting’ the blond bombshell was another mystery, I think I had said that before. Then the inclusion of Sylvia, the Helo and trimmings too difficult to pass up made me more than suspicious. I guess I was becoming more like them than I realized.

I had a feeling about this, not a good feeling either.

Two beautiful tormentors were yanking me, I got no sleep but now I was being pulled out of bed, or so I wanted to think. Half way out of bed, the cover slid down and I thought my two antagonists would run screaming from my room Nope, both just stood and stared.

“See, I told you he was big.”

Sylvia, the traitor just nodded. She should know, this was not our first time together. There was this beach in the Balkans where ... never mind.

I patted the bed on both sides of me and had them sit down. I placed my arms around their shoulders, in my best Moscow Russian I started speaking to them.

“Comrades, I am happy that Moscow sent two such lovely agents to me. Ahead of us lay a difficult task and I will need your advice and support if this is to be successful. The decisions will not be easy but we must do what needs to be done. The success of this mission depends on it.”

“I was uncertain when the time would come for this. We may not all make it through together but when it is done, transportation back home will be provided for those who survive. Now, ready yourselves, we do this for ‘Rodina’, yes?”

I slowly got out of bed the rest of the way, making certain they both got a good look as I walked outside the room, they had the big bed and attached bathroom. Both were still sitting there, staring when I returned from my leisurely shower.

“What, chop-chop you two we have menus to peruse for dinner and this is important, I still have not gotten your list of things you wish to see.”

I turned to find some clothes to wear. Two maybe Three minutes passed before the first pillow hit, followed by the next then a veritable storm of hands finding every tickle spot known to man. I was going to miss these girls when this was over. All good things must end, look at any script and you will see that.

Our experience of fun and frivolity did not end in the bedroom, it carried over to dinner. Sylvia ordered shrimp, Nadia a 6 ounce filet steak, I ordered lamb chops. Since this was not Europe, salads, bread, butter and the nectar of the gods, coffee was served first. The entrees looked fabulous; they might have tasted so if both my tiny chops had not disappeared off my plate as soon as it was set down.

It was a well planned and coordinated attack with the waitress I tell you. I knew they were gone too long to just use the facilities. No way in Hell was this their only such engagement. Everything was perfectly executed. I too was not a novice as I sat back to see the same server bringing me a huge 32 ounce Porterhouse with onion rings and mushrooms. I eventually shared some with my now beleaguered combatants, but only after they admitted defeat.

From what might have been a boring and tedious stay, it had evolved into something I had not experienced in quite a long time; we were having fun. As they say, ‘the night was still young’. I was still not ready to take them out but the hotel had a bar, music and dancing later.

Even Nadia ordered something to drink. I snickered a bit but decided not to tell her how they made Long Island Iced Tea, she could find out for herself. Sylvia shook her head.

“I called her Evil, now I realize she is not alone, you are a bad influence on the child.”

“Methinks she stopped being a child many years ago, Sylvia. Let her have some fun where it’s safe. I have a feeling going home will not be something she is looking forward to.”

“I am right here and understand English you know. Thank You for not treating me as a child. You are correct, I have had to put aside being a child many years ago.”

By the look she was giving me, you know, the lioness about to feed; I was about to cut out the dancing part of the evening. But Sylvia ordered another round and off we went. By midnight, we were long past feeling any pain, even though coffee, tea and soft drinks were interspersed with the drinks. I swear Sylvia and Nadia must have had a contest as to who could unbutton their blouse fastest.

Merely to maintain a sense of modesty I graciously secured any exposed body parts as we weaved to our suite. Not the only thought, but it was one; that this was as close as I would come to having a wife, no two wives. I kissed each as we continued our trek.

We never made it to bed, either bed. The girls still had on the open blouses with matching bikini panties now, I had my briefs and we somehow found room on the couch for all three of us.

The next morning could have been a disaster, but it wasn’t. The suggestion of shower then a few more hours in the big bed seemed to get three votes. The two were cuddled on me on the entire way to the shower, it lasted 2 minutes, 30 seconds, enough to wash but not fully wake up; then we were in bed, sleeping, dreaming and a little groping to make certain this was not all a dream.

I closed my eyes and thought, ‘I wish this was a dream that I might be able to relive for the rest of my life’.

A little hand, well not so little, squeezed me at that thought.

I went back to my attempt to think of all this as a dream, so I could remember it every night. I recalled that all good things must end someday; but not right now.

You heard of ‘bonding’ right? Well that’s what we did it seems. We each knew something the others did not and we left it at that. We were professionals and although we had our own speculations, we never voiced them. We had orders and a job to do. In this business, one needed to read between the lines. We were given this time to have fun so we did, or tried to. Breakfast was forgotten. Lunch, some light fare, thank you again room service. I gave the girls an option for the evening; food or a play. They wanted to dress-up and chose door number two, the play. Good thing I already had the tickets.