Edge of Tomorrow (32 page)

“Hatch won’t like that,” Sara said seriously.
“Neither will I! I kind of got used to having you around.”

“Thanks, Sara. I’ll miss you, too, but you
guys have the Bell chopper. You can come see me—or pick me up for
parties,” laughed Syd.

“And I’ll be in Arizona,” pouted Shirley,
“working my ass off.”

“What ass?” chortled Sara.

They chatted amiably for another 45 minutes
while they finished their lunch. Then Sara said she was tired and
Shirley said she would wheel her in for her afternoon nap.

“After I get Sara settled, I’m due for
another training session on Shadow-5, Syd. Want to look over my
shoulder? You’ll be fascinated!” said Shirley.

“Sure, why not? I don’t have anything else
planned.”

• • •

Syd spent all afternoon with Shirley in
Shadow-5 learning the complicated offensive and defensive weapons
systems, and the advanced communications and navigation systems.
She was not sure why she was spending time learning something she
would never make use of, but everything was so fascinating, and it
beat going home and reading a book. She wondered why Hatch did not
share this technology with the U. S. military, even though she
thought she knew his answer: politics would hold the technology
hostage, not allowing it to be used when and where it was needed
most.

Syd spent the next two days having lunch with
Sara and Shirley, and the afternoons with Shirley and Smitty in
Shadow-5. She kept wondering what Hatch was doing and when he might
return to Florida.

• • •

On Friday, August 10, Syd was on the balcony
of her condo reclining on a lounge and reading her Clancy
book—which she seemed to have trouble finishing—when her phone
rang. She had placed it on the small round table next to her
lounge. The ring of the phone startled her and she sat up quickly
to grab it. When she did, her bathing suit top fell off her
breasts, since she had untied it to avoid strap marks.

She picked up the cordless phone and said,
“Hello.”

“Hello to you, Syd! Miss me?” said Hatch’s
elated voice.

“Yes, I did! Where are you?” she answered
with excitement.

“In the chopper on my way to Klaus Haus. I
can’t wait to see you!” he replied.

“You
really
would like to see me right now! I’m
sitting here on my balcony topless!” she giggled.

“Don’t move! I’ll have the pilot fly over and
take a look,” he laughed.

“Don’t you dare! I’m moving inside!” she
said, automatically putting her left arm across her breasts.

“Just kidding! When can I
really
see you? Can I send a car for
you? You can stay for dinner. Mrs. C. is having surf and turf
tonight in honor of my return. You’ll love the lobster!”

“I’d rather have you to myself, but that’s
being selfish! Yes, send a car, or I can grab a cab. I can’t wait
to see you!”

“I’ll call ahead, get a car on its way. I
need to see you, too!”

“See you soon,” she said, smacking a kiss
into the phone.

• • •

As Syd entered the front door of Klaus Haus,
she was met by the lovely-as-ever Mrs. Chamberlain.

“Hello, again, Sydney. I’m glad you can join
us for dinner once again.”

“So am I, Mrs. C. I hear you’re having
lobster,” smiled Syd.

“You’re very good at this spy business. Hatch
went to his room to freshen up. He asked me to send you there as
soon as you arrived,” she said with an impish smile.

“Thanks, Mrs. C., catch you later.”

Syd bounded up the now familiar staircase and
down the hall to Hatch’s room. She realized that she had never been
in his room before. She knocked twice on the door and waited.

“Come in,” she heard a muffled voice call
out.

She opened the door and entered his room,
closing the door behind her. The suite was twice as large as the
one she had used here.

“That you, Syd?” came Hatch’s voice from the
bathroom.

“Yes. Just little ol’ me.”

“Be right out.”

“He came out of the bathroom drying his face
with a towel. He had obviously just shaved around his goatee. He
was bare-chested, wearing dark suit pants. Syd had worn a long gray
skirt, black boots, and a Navy Blue silk blouse in deference to
Mrs. C.’s dress code for dinner.

“My God, you’re gorgeous! And your hair! I
love it! It makes you look even more like Audrey Hepburn!” Hatch
bubbled as he approached her.

His beard was no longer full, but had been
shaped into a goatee and mustache with medium sideburns.

“You look pretty handsome yourself! I like
the change in your beard. What’s the occasion?”

“This is my corporate look, in case some
paparazzi get my picture. Come here!”

He took her in his arms and pulled her tight
against him, just holding her for a few seconds. Syd could feel the
warmth of his bare chest through her thin silk blouse, and immersed
herself in it. She looked up into his hazel eyes and put her arms
around his neck. Then, they had a long, lingering kiss.

“I’ve missed that,” she whispered.

“Not as much as I have. I could hardly
concentrate on business because of you.”

“How did business go?” she asked.

“Boring. I had to put out a few fires, but it
was mostly just smoozing the people, letting them know they’re
doing a good job. I approved their operating plans and budgets for
the next quarter, and gave them their bonuses. They always like
that! Barring a crisis, I won’t have another formal meeting until
the end of the year. I wish you hadn’t moved back to your condo. I
need you here.”

He kissed her again, and this time they had
dueling tongues.

After she caught her breath, she said, “I
can’t sponge off you forever, Hatch. I’m trying to get things back
to normal. And how often are you really here? Thirty days a year?
And—you’ll like this even less—I may be moving to Miami in a couple
of weeks.”

He put his hands on her shoulders and held
her at arm’s length, peering into her dark eyes.

“You wouldn’t dare! Why, pray tell?”

“I need a job, and the University of Miami
has offered me one if I want it. I thought at least that would keep
me in the area. Which is kind of stupid in a way, since you travel
so much; one area is as good as any other. I could go back to
Harvard and make more money.”

“Enough of this for now! You’re depressing
me! We’ll discuss it rationally later. Right now I want to kiss you
some more—and I want to feel you up again, but I’m afraid to touch
that blouse you have on and mess it up,” he said, switching the
subject.

She continued to stare into his eyes, and
began unbuttoning her blouse.

“We wouldn’t want hand prints on my blouse,
now would we,” she smiled coyly. “What would Mrs. C. think?”

She finished unbuttoning it and took it off,
hanging it carefully on the back of the desk chair. Hatch went to
the door of his suite and locked it. Syd now stood in her black bra
as he returned to her and again kissed her, this time feeling her
breasts through the soft, silken bra. Her nipples hardened
quickly.

“Now do you see why I wanted you to myself?”
she gasped.

“Yes! That was my preference, too, but this
is my first night back and Mrs. C. would have been upset with me.
So would Sara. God, you feel good!”

“I love the feel of your hands on me!”

“Since all of your neighbors got to see you
topless, do you suppose I could, too?” he laughed.

“Nobody saw me topless! My balcony is
completely private! Except from choppers, that is!” she
laughed.

“I should have flown over, but then the pilot
would have gotten an eyeful, too. You wouldn’t have liked
that!”

“Well, lucky for you, I have no will power.
I’m standing here wanting to feel my naked breasts against your
naked body, so unhook my bra, if you know how!”

“I’m a little out of practice, but it’s like
riding a bike, isn’t it?”

He reached his arms around her back and
unhooked her bra while kissing her deeply.

“Remember,” she said, “I’m over thirty, so
you will notice a bit of the effects of gravity!”

“That proves they’re real!”

He removed her bra and threw it on the bed.
He held her at arm’s length and looked at her well-formed breasts,
their nipples hard and erect, rising out of ruddy brown areolas
which were on a field of snow-white skin. He said nothing as he
absorbed their beauty.

“Well, you like?” Syd finally asked.

“Oh! I like! I see you don’t sunbathe in the
nude like Sara does!”

“Should I?”

“I don’t know! The contrast is breathtaking!
They’re beautiful! You’re beautiful!”

“Then hug me! I want to feel them against
you!”

She could feel the heat of his body without
the interference of clothes now, and she knew she had to figure out
a way to make this a permanent thing. She did not want to lose this
man, but she knew the odds were against her.

He felt the softness and warmth of her
against his bare chest, and the hard nipples. He wondered, too, if
he could really win this woman. He worried about their age
difference and what she would ultimately think about that. He
started to catalog the pros and cons they had discussed earlier,
but her tongue made the list fade away. His right hand found her
left breast and gently played with her nipple.

“What time is dinner?” she asked in his ear,
breathing heavily.

He looked at his watch and said, “In about
twenty minutes.”

“Shit!” she replied. “We’d better get
ourselves put together or Mrs. C. will have a cow! Where’s my bra?
And I need to fix my makeup.”

“Your bra is on the bed—where we should be!
Maybe I should drive you home after dinner myself. What do you
think?”

“I would rather skip dinner, but I
guess that’s not an option.
Yes
, you can take me home later!”

• • •

Syd sat on Hatch’s right at dinner. Mrs.
Chamberlain had exceeded her usual quality with an offering of
bacon-wrapped filet mignons, Australian lobster tails with drawn
butter, baked potatoes, and baby asparagus spears with Hollandaise
sauce. As much as Syd enjoyed the meal, her mind was on what would
happen later when Hatch took her home.

No more psychobabble analysis crap! Screw
our hang-ups! Tonight I’m taking him to bed, no matter what the
consequences! I can’t stand this any longer! If it causes him to
dump me afterward, so be it! I’ll have to make the sex so good that
he’ll want to come back for more!

Hatch’s thoughts were running along a similar
theme as he kept looking at Syd, remembering how she looked topless
earlier in his room. He wanted to see the whole package. As he
watched Syd sip her wine with the same lips he had kissed an hour
before, he felt his silent pager vibrate. He glanced at it and
could hardly believe his eyes: the code was the one he had assigned
to the President of the United States!

“Excuse me, folks. I have to take this call!”
said Hatch as he rose from the table and left the dining room and
went to his room for privacy.

He got his Blue Phone and punched some
buttons, then heard, “May I speak to Bob, please?”

“This is Bob, sir,” Hatch answered.

“Thank you for being so prompt in getting
back to me,” said the President. “I hope I’m not interrupting your
dinner.”

“Just finished, Mr. President,” stated Hatch
as he saw the green light on his phone come on, indicating that the
voice print identification had been confirmed.

“I assume you have confirmed my identity,
Bob.”

“Yes, sir. You may speak freely.”

“I have a situation that I would like to tell
you about. An American Airlines 757 has been highjacked. It was out
of Rome, headed for JFK. The latest word from the pilot is that
they have been ordered to divert to Cuba,” said the President in
his distinctive baritone voice.

“That is not good! Do you know anything about
the highjackers?”

“Not at this time. Although any highjacking
is to be abhorred, we have a special interest in this one. We have
a courier on board with a diplomatic pouch that contains very
sensitive material,” answered the man in the Oval Office.

“Have you taken any action yet?” asked
Hatch.

“I have the Marines at Guantanamo on alert,
as well as the Delta Force in North Carolina. However, if the plane
lands in Cuba, that causes a touchy political situation in light of
the ongoing talks with Cuba about normalizing relations with them.
The Cuban government will be in sympathy with the highjackers, so I
don’t see how I can use military force on Cuban soil without
undoing a lot of progress,” said a dejected President.

Hatch’s mind was racing, trying to formulate
a plan. Most military assaults of highjacked aircraft had
casualties among the hostages. The Cuban venue was even
trickier.

“I agree that you have a very sticky
situation on your hands, Mr. President. I’m not sure you have any
good options. What is the ETA in Cuba?”

“In four hours. The Cubans have granted them
permission to land. We have no idea what their plans are once they
are there.”

Hatch finally made a decision.

“Mr. President, don’t take any action for the
moment. I know you have no reason to trust me, but you have no
viable options in any case. If I do not call you back within the
next three hours, you are on your own. Do whatever you think you
can. In the meantime, I need to talk to some people. By the way, is
your courier armed?” asked Hatch.

“I don’t think so. I hope not! I don’t want
him to draw any special attention to himself. I need that
pouch!”

“Is there anything I should know about the
pouch?” asked Hatch.

“Only that it contains a document which could
have serious political implications in Europe—possibly cause a war.
Until we evaluate it properly, we don’t know.”