Sex seemed better on a cruise ship. At least that’s what Lester told Debi after their afternoon nap. No worries about work or school later on. Just more naps and more sex.
“Debi, I’m going to call Jim,” Lester said as he moved to the balcony. He looked around to see if anyone was on the adjoining balconies. They were clear. So, he began dialing.
“Ten minutes, Lester!” Debi said, as she stuck her head out of the glass sliding door.
Lester gave her the finger and smiled. She returned the favor.
Finally, after being passed around to a couple departments, he successfully connected with his old friend.
“Jim, it’s Lester. How are you, good buddy?”
“Lester, you’re on your honeymoon—don’t you have things to do?”
“Just did! Thanks for coming to the wedding and for the case of wine. I’m working my way through it.”
“I’m going to guess, Lester, you have something on your mind or you wouldn’t take time out from your duties—ha—to call me at work.”
“This may not be anything, but I just wanted to run it by you. Went to the spa on our ship—that’s a place where you get your butt rubbed. This pretty Muslim girl dropped some towels on the floor and her phone slid out of her pocket when she went to pick them up.”
“Gee whiz, Lester, this is really exciting,” Jim said sarcastically.
“Do you remember when I wanted the expensive Iridium Extreme satellite phone? It requires a GPS relay to broadcast and receive from buildings or ships. This phone is state of the art. Have their own network of satellites. Expensive. Probably the best one sold anywhere. Clearly not required for her position but, by god, she sure as hell has one. If an iPhone is a firecracker, this baby is a cruise missile.
“Now, I have told you about it and have done my duty. I have nothing against Muslims and, believe me, this girl is beautiful. Islamic terrorists with specialized equipment could fuck up my honeymoon. I haven’t said anything to anyone except you and Debi. She thinks I’m nuts, as usual.”
“He is nuts, Jim!” Debi said, as she stuck her head out the balcony door again. She had been listening to the conversation.
“Lester, I agree you’re nuts, but for the safety of all those people on the ship, I’ll make some calls to NSA, Homeland, and the CIA. I think you guys are on the Tropic Queen, aren’t you? Where are you going?” Jim asked.
“I think the Mexican Riviera, Costa Rica, Colombia, then over to Aruba and end up in Miami. You want to come along?” Lester said.
“Hell, they might assign me to stay in your room and watch over you,” Jim laughed.
“I believe we’ll pass on that. So, what happens next?” Lester asked.
“We will report this to our main office in Lyon, France. They may think it’s no big deal, and that’s the last you will hear about it. If not, we’ll contact you on what to do next. Have your phone set to receive calls.”
“Wow! Will I be on the payroll? Maybe you’ll ask me to sleep with the pretty Muslim girl.”
“It’s not a James Bond movie, Lester.”
“Shit! I never have any fun.”
“Look, I’ve got real work to do. Give my love to Debi.”
“Love you, Jim!” Debi emerged through the doorway one last time.
*****
“Jordan, are you drunk enough to go to our room?” Maria asked.
“Are you?”
“Calmed down a little. I’m actually looking forward to it. If we were working permanently in the same office, we wouldn’t be allowed to be romantically involved,” Maria said, smiling. As they got up from the table, she put her arm in his. “Since we don’t have our own police force, law enforcement personnel are loaned to us all the time. It’s usually local police or cops wanting to learn how to collect intel to gain rank. You came because you had been a bad boy.”
“Thank God for loopholes,” Jordan said as he leaned into her and gave her a long, soft kiss.
Their room featured a large bathroom with a glassed-in shower big enough for two. They undressed and explored each other’s bodies as they took a hot shower. Jordan noticed that Maria had beautiful legs.
“Why do you wear those baggy pants? You have great legs and should show them off.”
“If someone asks me out, maybe I can assume it’s because they like me and not just my body,” Maria said.
Both avoided getting their hair wet, so they could immediately get into bed. After helping each other dry off, they laid on top of the covers and made love. All the sex positions they had both done without for the last few months came back into play. Jordan introduced Maria to a new technique for her. He placed her legs together and entered her from on top. He placed his feet on the outside of her legs to help him penetrate deeper inside her. She enjoyed it, and they climaxed quickly.
“Wow! Where have you been for the last few months?” Maria said.
“Waiting to meet you I guess. Damn, that was fun!”
“You ready to go again?” Maria asked.
“Give me a minute to recharge my batteries,” Jordan said as he kissed her gently and traced her lips with his finger.
“I like looking at your face when we make love,” Maria said, as she held his face in both hands. She was smiling and obviously very happy.
Jordan moved his hands over her breasts and held her nipples between his fingers. Next, he ran his hand over her flat stomach and on down through her pubic hair, which was thick and unmolested.
“You haven’t gotten into the fad of trimming landing strips and cute designs?”
“Oh, I have before. I just haven’t had anyone checking it out lately. Do you have a design you prefer?”
“The kind covering the source of pleasure and entertainment for me,” Jordan said with a laugh.
After a few minutes of caressing each other’s bodies, they made love again.
They slept well, or maybe they were just great bed partners. Their nude bodies pulled each other closer, and legs and arms draped and intertwined in an attempt to absorb maximum sensations.
At some time during the night, Maria became aware of Jordan engaging in oral sex with her. She awoke and returned the favor. Both needed to connect so badly; it was like an illness. It had been so long—too long—too little intimate touching.
Once the soft light from another cloudy day filtered into their room, they had exhausted themselves again with sex so passionate, it bordered on violence. Neither knew if their feelings would last, so subconsciously, they wanted to make the best of their short time together.
Both were out of breath. They wanted to speak to each other but couldn’t. Finally, Jordan kissed Maria lightly and said, “Jesus H. Christ, do you know how wonderful that was?”
“I do—I was there.”
They held each other tightly and spoke in lowered voices for a long time.
“Maria, do you realize that you are still pretty without your makeup?”
“Well, you look handsome without your lipstick as well.” Maria laughed and got up to go to the bathroom. As she passed by the portable scanner lying on the dresser, she flipped the switch on. She was behind the closed door of the bathroom when the instrument began to beep.
“How does this damn thing work?” Jordan asked Maria as he stood in front of her while she sat on the toilet, peeing at midstream.
“Is there no privacy in this household? Here, let me see.”
She placed the phone in her naked lap, adjusted some knobs and focused the screen. “My God! We have a hit!” she screamed.
*****
“It’s Australia on the sat phone,” Ziya said. “What should I say to him?”
“Tell him exactly what happened. He will yell at you, I’m sure, for having your phone at work,” Salama Moussa said to his wife, unsympathetically.
“You told me to check with the man, so I took it to get good reception. I will tell him you asked me to report our progress,” Ziya said, sobbing.
“It will not matter what you say. If he was here—you would be beaten.”
Ziya moved near the window on their Deck Four cabin. Above the window were two strategically-located booster relays installed by her husband, Marine Electrician Salama Moussa, one on Deck 10 and one mixed in with a mass of other electrical instruments on the main mast above the fifteenth deck. Their phone was part of the Iridium network, which included over sixty satellites and boasted worldwide coverage. Even though it was the primary choice for Islamic groups, there was a problem. Most intelligence agencies around the world had endorsed the new GMR-2 encryption algorithm, so no satellite phone could hide behind their best cryptanalysed versions. Messages were short, coded Arabic phrases. This system might keep Ziya from a serious ass chewing. She wrote a note so that she would not be on the line long. With much trepidation she dialed the +881-6-number assigned to the Iridium network.
Nazeem Dastyari answered on the second ring. “How is my paradise girl?” He knew it would be her since her husband never reported in.
“Well, Father. Are my goats giving milk?” Her voiced shook, and he sensed a problem.
“Poorly, as they miss you. Tell me you are fine,” Nazeem said.
“The big toy fell from my robe at work and a nice man retrieved it for me,” she said.
“Did this man hold it long, my dear?” Nazeem probed.
“Handed to me very quickly,” she said much calmer now.
“Find out about this man as we should send a note of thanks. No toy at work. I must go. Allah is great!”
“Allah be with you, Father!” she said and watched as the green light faded out on the phone.