Dangerous at Night Pt. 02

"Yes. Of course. Always." His voice carried more emotion than usual.

"Reggie, we must figure out what I can say to Carolyn. I miss being open with her."

He sounded brighter, taking on homework from his much loved protege. "Yes, absolutely. Let me work on that."

Alan had eggs ready when she came to the kitchen with the phone. They sat at the counter, neither of them with clothes. Before starting on a second cup of coffee, Sarah asked, "Do we still have an arrangement, or whatever it is we agreed last evening?"

He eased her into his lap, saying "You are very special to me and I want you to have your own career, on which you have been working so hard. But I have a terrible need for this body of yours as well, so I am happy to accept the conditions on our engagement."

His kiss was hot. She felt desire rocket through her body, heightened by his use of the word "engagement." Less than twelve hours from "I might need to marry you" to "happy to accept conditions on our engagement!"

Arms around his neck, she whispered, "Will you make love to me once more before we go to work? I need memories of last night and this morning. Memories of my engagement party..."

Lying in his bed, full of egg breakfast and his male juice, she said languidly, "It's a good thing I will be away from time to time. Else we would be dismissed for idling like this." Her smile was impish and he responded with yet another kiss.

Chapter 7 - The Destination is Lebanon

After the emotional night of wild sex, resulting in an engagement, Sarah listened to Alan's words before he left for work. "I have a very large confession to make, but there is no time at the moment, and besides, my brain is completely addled. Or perhaps bewitched is a better word. In any event, you know the destination is Lebanon, so both French and Arabic will be needed."

He pulled two books from a shelf and placed them on his desk. "Put your nose in these this morning. A little history and a little language introduction to Arabic. I will see if Geoff is available for lunch with the two of us and will give you a call."

She grabbed him for a kiss, her body trembling. "Thank you. Am I supposed to be just an agent and not a girlfriend at lunch? That will be difficult, you know."

He lifted her off her feet in a bearhug, "Yes, difficult. You and I will talk. I'll see if we can spend the weekend at Harrogate. Perhaps, after we've taken over their country house, we can invite Reggie and Carolyn for dinner one day!"

"Alan, you are stealing my heart all over again! And Reggie is getting permission to talk to us about the mission."

"There is more. We can discuss some of it with Geoff."

Two hours later, her cell chimed and it was Alan. "Geoff is open. What would you think about a picnic lunch in Regent's Park? Someplace where we won't be overheard."

"I'm sorry, Alan, I only know Regent's Park after dark. Jeremy trained me there."

There was a long pause and then a gruff voice, "Remind me not to invite you to the park after dark. Would you be so kind as to gather the essentials of a lunch for three and meet us at the Hub?"

"Yes, of course. The junior agent is in charge of catering?"

The gruff voice answered, "You can be disciplined, you know."

"I have been meaning to ask if you would visit the gym with me to practice self-defence. We could take the measure of each other on the mats." Her voice was light and flip, but Alan instantly realized he might spend a few moments on his back.

To preserve male honor, his quick response was "Exactly. The measure of each other. I'm looking forward to it."

Sarah had no sooner hung up and begun to think about lunch supplies, when the cell chimed again. It was Reggie. "I'm calling about your Arabic tutor."

Her astonished voice responded, "My Arabic tutor!?"

"My dear girl, agents are not supposed to sound surprised, even if they are. Alan remembered that I have a close friend who grew up in a prominent Beirut family and is now a business consultant here in London. I just finished checking with her, and she would be delighted to meet you for a cocktail at my home at six this evening."

"But, but..."

"Humor me, please, Sarah. Her name is Natalie Karam and we are lucky she is in town because she travels constantly. By way of digging in front, look up Maronite Christian in the online encyclopedia before you arrive."

"Yes, sir. I can't seem to stop saying thank you for the little assists here and there."

"You are more than welcome. We will see you at six."

She had just arrived at the Hub building in the middle of cricket fields when she sighted two figures jogging across the very large expanse of lawn. They had their whites on, with Soccer Club sweaters. Wondering how they had managed that, she trotted out in a fashionable turtleneck, charcoal slacks and black sneakers, complete with a backpack full of lunch. Making a point of colliding with both of them, she supplied kisses to both cheeks and said, "You college boys simply must stop fighting over me."

Alan seized the pack, and Geoff tossed her light body as high as he could, which was considerable. She screeched and fell into his outstretched arms.

"A real prize, Alan. Don't know how you deserve her." Geoff was laughing openly.

"He knows?"

"He does. No point in trying to hide."

"You are bad, very bad. I'll be thrown out of the service before even enrolled."

Geoff pulled her close and said, "That, dear Sarah, is definitely not going to happen."

They found a place with good sightlines in all directions. Geoff and Alan arranged the blanket and Sarah served the sandwiches and cider, with small dishes of diced fruit.

Geoff began with a little speech. "Sarah, before business, Alan and I must apologize for our behavior over the past year while you have been training. Several years ago, Alan introduced me to his talented sister, who is a violist with the London Symphony. Something clicked, and we are now happily married. Point one, there is a family connection among us.

"Point two, Alan is our best recruiter, but wants to get back to field work. Not actually in the field, but in the chain of command here that vets and organizes missions. He cried on my shoulder to help with an internal transfer.

"Point three, about a year ago, he invited me for lunch and said he had met the most fabulously smart and talented woman and successfully recruited her for the covert training program."

Sarah interrupted, still munching on her sandwich, "I suppose, as men do, he said she was the most fabulous woman in the sack as well?" Her eyes glinted at them with a small smile.

"Actually, he didn't. It was months before Helen wormed out of him that he was seeing you. Even then, he pretended you were good friends but not lovers."

She interrupted again. "I also suppose that his sister sat on him and said males of his chemistry did not have kissing only relationships?"

"Damn, Alan, she is fearsome smart. Will she be one jump ahead of me when we are in the field?"

Sarah decided teasing had gone far enough. Pressing Geoff down on his back and glancing around for spectators, she sat in the female superior position on his chest and said in her new agent voice, "When we are in the field, there is only one boss, and that is you. I am the junior agent and am there to learn and find success in the mission assignment."

Not allowing him time for a response, she rolled into Alan's arms and smiled.

Geoff didn't bother to sit up but said simply, "Damn."

After a minute, she asked, "Do we get to talk about Lebanon? I would like to do that because Reggie has been conspiring with you about me, and has invited Natalie Karam for cocktails this evening at his place."

Now it was Alan's turn to say, "Damn."

Geoff filled the silence, "Yes, but there is one more point, or rather two related points. Alan has been appointed Controller of our operation, reporting directly to the Deputy Director. And the third member of the team has not yet been selected. After you have been fully briefed, we will want your recruiting advice. There are sensitive male-female issues."

She took a shot in the dark. "One of our targets is a highly placed woman? I am too junior to gain her confidence?"

Geoff and Alan looked at each other and simultaneously said, "Yes."

"So either the right male, or the right female, should be the third team member."

They nodded, and she added, "You needn't worry about my lack of sex appeal. Body not big enough. No tits to speak of. Too many muscles here and there."

"But," they chorused. She waved them off. "We will use my talents elsewhere than in seduction."

Geoff picked up the thread of the earlier conversation. "The Foreign Office and the PM herself are concerned over our lack of intelligence about internal relationships and plans among Lebanon's political leadership. We get fragments, and they are often contradictory."

Sarah suggested, "So there are two dilemmas. One is to discover the current state of play, and the other is to start the foundation for a continuing intelligence network."

Time was pressing and they all stood to pick up after the lunch. Geoff patted her shoulder. "Not bad for your first day of work, agent. Keep at it."

She realized that was high praise coming from a veteran field agent and squeezed his hand.

Walking toward Euston Road and the Underground, Sarah asked, "I need a new identity. What are we going to do about that?"

The males chuckled. "There has been discussion. We actually decided to consult you."

She punched them both in their muscled biceps. "I realized this morning, when I discovered Reggie was inviting me to a command performance, that this is my fate for the next several years. Asking the obvious question and being told to answer it myself. You do know, don't you, that you are leaning on a very inexperienced person?"

They each had a hand, gently squeezing, and she wondered what passersby thought. Geoff said, "It is as Alan said, you are a very talented person and experience will catch you up quickly."

Alan spoke as they approached the park gate, "Geoff and I are extricating ourselves from current assignments. There will need to be briefings and so forth, joined with private preparations by the team. We are checking for an MI5 house in the country where we can do that."

He kissed her cheek and they were gone.

Chapter 8 - Preparing for Lebanon is Complicated

Her head swimming with new information from the lunch, Sarah decided a run was necessary. Her tiny apartment was nearby and would be convenient. She wasn't there much, and the owner was an absentee landlord living in Carlisle, so they talked only occasionally and she had the rent payment on automatic with her bank so there never was a lateness issue. Even if she lived with Alan, it was a valid address for mail and other purposes. A convenient facade when needed.

Her best clothes, almost all of them provided by Alan, were in his closet. Looking at the remains of her years of student independence in the tiny space, she thought there wasn't much salvage. Not much salvage of that period of naivete, either. Changing into a running outfit and shoes, she smiled and repeated the order to herself to think and act grownup.

Moving rapidly along Albany Street, she entered the park again, calming her brain and concentrating on a fast pace. Like other moments of good fortune in her past, she couldn't understand how she was fortuitously in the care of two of the most influential agents in MI5, who were looking out for her. Was Fate balancing her early loss of both parents with some lucky breaks now? Better not to rely on luck, she cautioned herself; history teaches that successful humans find ways to make their own luck.

The face of her running watch said an eight minute pace. Good for a lazy afternoon, but if she was in a truly dangerous at night situation, it needed to be six or better. Work and fast running go together, she thought, remembering the story that Roger Bannister was a junior practising physician when he broke the four minute mile barrier.

Just after she decided to veer her run directly to Alan's family home in Belsize Park, an errant thought crossed her mind about the MI5 - MI6 business. Six had botched an attempt at the assignment and been replaced by Five! This explained the horsepower Five was assigning! But it certainly didn't explain why she was on the team! Good Gracious!

Actually, she thought, there was nothing gracious about it. She rattled off several street oaths as she ran, not caring if they were overheard. Damn and double damn. She had asked for a challenging assignment in the field and look at what she had received!

"Ha!" she said to herself. "Hoist on..." The running pace immediately dropped to under six minutes as she dashed back to the books in Alan's study that might save her life one of these nights.

* * *

Natalie Karam was tall, attractive, extremely well dressed, and friendly. After introductions, she cordially shook Sarah's hand. When Mouse responded in French, she smiled broadly and dropped into the language herself.

"For someone with only school French, you do very well, Sarah. I will speak to Reggie about his neglect of your opportunities to spend time in France."

Reggie was too busy serving cocktails to do other than blush. "Natalie, you always find ways to embarrass me. I thought we might discuss a bit of Arabic study, not my atrocious French."

Natalie sat back in her chair and continued teasing. "Reggie, it is once in a blue moon that I ever have you at a disadvantage. Sarah, how do you put up with him?"

Reggie gave them both a frown, thinking these two could more than keep up with his games.

Natalie turned to Sarah, "Sir Reginald tells me you are his precious and brilliant almost daughter, and have been given a Foreign Office assignment in Lebanon. One that will require travel in the countryside where Arabic is necessary."

"Yes, that is correct. I have a few weeks of familiarization and would very much appreciate any assistance you could provide."

Sarah wore a stunning cocktail dress in navy blue silk with patterned embroidery. Alan had loaned his mother's pearl earrings that struck just the right conservative note. He was very put out that Reggie had turned down his request for an invitation to the cocktail meeting.

Holding him at arm's length, Sarah had said, "If there is no dinner, I will call and meet you at one of the hidden places where you take women upon whom you have designs!"

His tender kiss made her wet, and when she brushed the front of his trousers, there was severe stiffness. She laughed and was out the door to a cab.

After several minutes of light conversation, Natalie turned to Reggie, "I have an idea. I need to be in country for a series of economic development meetings for three weeks. What if Sarah became my temporary PA during the trip? There will be a lot of French and Arabic, but she will have me as backup in any tight spots."

The idea of having this elegant, professional woman as her guide for weeks in Lebanon overwhelmed Sarah. What an opportunity! She looked sidewise at Reggie, who was looking sidewise at her with a big smile.

He spoke slowly and hesitantly, "Well, she is the most junior of the recruits, but her entrance exam scores were extremely high, and her economics degree from UCL was with honors. She might actually keep up with the most renowned private investor in Lebanon."

Natalie looked at Sarah, "Does he always put you down like this? The OBE must be going to his head."

Sarah frowned fiercely, "Reggie, you didn't tell me, and I have been so busy with training I missed the announcement! Why aren't we celebrating?"

Reggie gave her a slow smile and she realized he was up to tricks again. He turned to Natalie, "Since you have a few days in London, would you join us at Harrogate this weekend? Sarah will have some book learning on Arabic under her belt and will take personal instruction on one of the hikes in the national park."

He added, for Sarah, "Carolyn and Alan should come, and I will break out the vintage Krug from the cellar."

There was a silence until Natalie said, "He does this to me. He knows I have relatives in northern Italy and was raised hiking in the Alps. I cannot refuse an invitation to hike from the country estate that has been in his family for generations. I want you to know that I am breaking an engagement with one of the Royals to accept your invitation." She stared at him until they both laughed.

"Friday at noon, shall it be?" Her tone was sharp but the smile was wide.

There was no dinner, because both Reggie and Natalie had commitments. Natalie hugged Sarah and said she was looking forward to the weekend.

Sarah was busy giving Reggie a thank you kiss when Carolyn came in the door, saying, "Father, you are not harassing her yet again?"

There was an outburst of giggles from the women as Reggie exited with a groan.

"Are you booked? It has been so long since we have talked."

Still hugging, Sarah said, "Far too long. But I owe Alan a call. He was put out not getting an invitation to see Natalie and I promised dinner if there was none here."

Carolyn said she required an immediate glass of wine and went to get it. Sarah called Alan, who sounded busy but interested in dinner until she said Carolyn was coming as well, and they had lots of gossip to catch up on. His tone was stiff. "I am not available to listen to a female klatch. Give her my regrets." Ignoring him, she rang off and sat knee to knee with Carolyn on the deep sofa, accepting the offered glass.

"Reggie won't tell me what you are doing, except that you have graduated from a training program and will work for the Foreign Office. Can you tell me more?"

Taking a deep breath, Sarah responded, "There really isn't much else to say. I don't have any details about my first assignment except that it involves some time in Lebanon. That's why Natalie was here. Reggie has invited her to Harrogate for a weekend of hiking and she accepted. You and I and Alan are going as well. Is there a man in your life we could add?"

There was a warm silence, which Carolyn broke by saying, "There is a person in my life and she is a woman. I've waited much too long to tell you. Reggie knows, but is very discreet."

Sarah wasn't sure exactly what to say. After a pause, she began with, "Carolyn, this is wonderful! I do want you to be happy, and if a woman in your life is the right answer, count me as a friend!"

They fell into each other's arms, shaking and almost spilling the wine. Sarah kissed her and said, "Your friend must come this weekend! I will beat Alan into submission if he has any problems."

After more talk and wine, they decided kitchen leftovers were fine for dinner, and fell into Carolyn's bed together afterwards.

In the morning, Sarah's cell phone was chiming to wake them. "Mouse, I was worried when you didn't show!"

"Alan, I am dreadfully sorry. Carolyn and I got into the wine and just faded in place. Will you ever forgive me?"

"What about the report I am owed on the Natalie conversation?"

"Yes sir. Immediately sir. Where am I to report? Is this my first real working day as an officer of HMG?"

"We have a meeting with Geoff and others at Thames House at eleven. You might as well come here now for debrief, study and punishment."

Carolyn had been listening and grabbed the phone. "Alan! You will not abuse my best friend! It is terribly unseemly that she has to report to you!"

"Ha! I am making a note to have a private session with you this weekend. We will discuss the extent of my abuse of your lovely body!"

Carolyn handed the phone back, "He is terrible! No wonder you love him."

Over morning coffee, they plotted more mischief. Carolyn was relieved that her secret was now shared by Sarah, who seemed comfortable that her friend liked women. They touched foreheads and Sarah inquired, "Do you have sex with men too? Perhaps I need more sex instruction?"