DISCLAIMER: This is an Uber story,
which means that the two main characters bear a striking resemblance to a certain Warrior
Princess and her Bard <g>. Xena and Gabrielle are the sole copyright property of
MCA/Universal and Renaissance Pictures. No copyright infringement was intended in the
writing of this fan fiction. This story cannot be sold or used for profit in any way.
Copies of this story may be made for private use only and must include all disclaimers and
copyright notices.
LOVE/SEX
WARNING DISCLAIMER:
This story depicts a love/sexual relationship between two consenting adult women. If you
are under 18 years of age or if this type of story is illegal where you live, please do
not read it.
Please
send comments and/or constructive criticism to tkocialski@catskill.net
You can
also visit Trish's site - http://xenamultimedia.com/trish/
by
Trish
Kocialski
Chapter
1
1455
Hours, 20 October
There
was a firm knock at the door. Lieutenant
Colonel Deanna Peterson had been rocking in her oversized leather desk chair, looking out
the window into the courtyard. The chair was
the only luxury she allowed herself in her large, but spartan office, at the Pentagon. She swiveled her chair around and straightened the
papers that were scattered about her desk before she called out, “Enter.” A brilliant smile quickly replaced her
formal military countenance as she recognized the individual entering through the doorway. It was her long time friend, Tracy Kidd, with whom
she had recently been reunited while on detached assignment in the Catskills of New York. That was an assignment she would remember for the
rest of her life, for it was where she finally reconciled with her past, and took a bold
step into the future.
“Hey,
Colonel,” came the quick salutation from Tracy,
“how about lunch?”
“Tracy! It’s good to see you! Are you here alone?
Where’s Colleen?” Stepping
from behind her desk, Dean greeted her old friend with a barrage of questions and a fierce
hug instead of a handshake. Before allowing Tracy time to answer, she added, “So,
what brings you to Washington?”
Tracy
grinned at her friend’s obvious delight at seeing her. “Oh, just one of the
perks of being the Director of Parks and Recreation!
We brought down a busload of senior citizens to see the sights for the weekend. We just got in.
I left them in Linna’s capable hands and hopped the first cab over here to see
you. Colleen couldn’t make this trip,
but she sends her love,” Tracy said, answering all of her questions as Dean waved her
to a chair by the desk and returned to her own chair.
“We haven’t heard from you in a while, so I just took a chance you’d
be here and not out on assignment in some backwater.
And before you ask, I ran into Captain Jerral at the Information Desk, and he got
me the visitor’s pass and directed me to your office.”
“Good
old Jerral. That’s right, you were
posted together at Fort Sill. Yeah, I’ve
been here plowing through paperwork for what seems like eons.” Dean motioned at the stacks of papers littering
her desk. “I was just rocking in my
chair and contemplating how bored I am, when you knocked.
I really hate paperwork! Much rather
be out in the field.”
“So,
why aren’t you?” came the direct question from Tracy.
“Well,
with the loss of General James, the higher ups decided that his replacement, Brigadier
General Carlton, needed an aide who was well versed in Intelligence work in the field, and
guess who they picked?” Dean pointed at
her chest with a sad smile.
“Carlton? Is that Mary Carlton? She’s a one-star now?”
“Yep! Nice to see a woman progress to such a good
posting, but it’s sure cramping my style. General Carlton was always a top-notch
administrator, great with budgets, proposals, planning, and staffing, but unfortunately
has never been in the field herself. So now I
get to help her make those assignments, track their progress, recommend changes, etc.,
etc.”
“Hey,
it can’t be that bad. At least you get
to see Katie, don’t you?” Tracy
offered this comment with a bright smile. “How
are the two of you doing, anyway?”
Here
Dean brightened visibly. Katie had become the
stable force Dean needed in her life, and they grabbed every chance they could to be
together. However, working for different
government agencies was not helping their relationship to develop on a normal track. Katie was often out in the field, while Dean was
swamped with paperwork. She filled Tracy in on the latest assignment Katie had in El Paso,
knowing full well that nothing she said to her friend would leave her office.
“She’ll be here this weekend. She’s
just finishing up the paperwork on the case and will be arriving at National on the red
eye from Dallas late tonight. I know
she’ll be glad to see you… and Linna too! What’s
your schedule like with the seniors?”
“Not
too bad. We bought a packaged tour this time. The
company is providing a tour guide for the whole weekend.
Linna and I came along just to participate and see whether it’s a good deal or
not… for future reference. So I can slip
out any time, but Linna will be available only in the evenings. What’d ya have in mind?”
“I
know a great restaurant down by the river. Best
crab cakes you’ve ever tasted. Maybe we
could all get together there. It’s
called The Crab Pot.”
“Hey! That’s where the tour has us scheduled for
tomorrow night at seven.”
“Great. Katie and I will meet you there at seven.”
The
two friends talked a bit longer and were about to leave for a short tour of the Pentagon
when they were interrupted by an order for Dean’s presence in General Carlton’s
office. “Guess I’ll have to bow out
on the tour, but we’ll see you at the Crab Pot tomorrow.” The women rose from their chairs and hugged again
before they left Dean’s office, each heading in a different direction.
*
* * * * * *
One
thing about Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, it was almost always busy. Dean parked her SUV in the short-term lot and ran
into the airport, scanning the monitors for Katie’s arrival gate information. Damn! They’re
early. Must have caught a good tailwind. Okay, Dean, let’s see how fast you can
sprint down to the gate! As she hurriedly
turned from the bank of monitors, she ran right into Katie who had been quietly standing
behind the tall woman and was just about to tap her on the shoulder.
“Ufff! Sorry, I didn’t…” Dean said, as she
reached down to assist the traveler she had just laid out on the floor. “Katie!
Why didn’t you say something?” Dean sputtered as she lifted her lover
into her arms.
“Yeah…
I’m glad to see you, too!” Katie said, reveling in the warmth of Dean’s
embrace.
Releasing
Katie, Dean put on her very best puppy dog look and started to apologize for being late,
explaining that she had a very long meeting with the general, then had to run home to give
Sugar her medicine, then the traffic on I 95….
Katie
reached up, smiling, and placed two fingers on Dean’s lips to stop the litany of
excuses. “It’s okay, Dean. We got in early. I slipped the pilot an extra $20
to floor it all the way home, ‘cause I missed you so much!” This said with a wink and a smile. “I’ve got my bag, so let’s just go
home.” Home… she thought,
losing herself in Dean’s eyes. That
sounds so good, and after this weekend, it’ll be even better.
“Hey,
love, penny for your thoughts,” Dean said, pulling the blonde out of her reverie.
“Mmmm,
I was just thinking about how nice it is to be home.”
The tall woman gave her lover another hug before walking out into the warm October
night towards the SUV.
“Are
you hungry?” Dean asked, as she pulled out into the southbound traffic on I 95.
“Do
birds fly? Of course I’m hungry…
but, no beef or Mexican food, okay? I’ve
pretty much hit my limit on those.” Katie
reached over to hold Dean’s hand. “How
about some Chinese, or Thai, or Indian, or…”
Her list of suggestions was cut short as Dean shouted for her to hold on, and made
a quick defensive move to the right to keep from being side swiped by a limo coming up
quickly on her left, zigzagging between their SUV and the vehicle just in front of them. “Holy Horse Puckey! Where the heck did he come from?” the
blonde exclaimed, as she felt the strong restraint of her shoulder harness keep her from
bouncing around on the slick leather seat.
“Damn!”
snarled Dean, carefully controlling her SUV on the loose gravel of the right hand
shoulder. Looking into her rearview mirror,
she noted that the vehicle that had been in front of her was not as lucky. It had pulled violently to the left to avoid the
limo and wound up sliding sideways into the median, kicking up a spray of dirt and grass
before it came to an abrupt stop. “We’d
better check on that other vehicle. Make sure
the driver is all right.”
The
two women got out of the SUV and checked for traffic before crossing the highway. When they got to the unlucky car, they found it
occupied by two elderly people who looked to be in their early seventies. The male driver was slumped over the steering
wheel, and his female companion was holding the right side of her head and mumbling what
they assumed was his name, but was unrecognizable at the time. Dean noticed they both had their seat belts on, so
she hoped any injuries would be minor.
“Check
her out, I’ll check him,” Dean instructed.
Katie nodded and hurried over to the passenger side.
Each worked quickly and skillfully, assessing their charges. Katie called over that the woman had hit her head
on the passenger door, but seemed to be all right otherwise. Dean carefully checked the man for bleeding,
pulse and breathing. Though she found no sign of physical injuries, he wasn’t
breathing and had no pulse. “Quick, give
me a hand. I’ve got to start CPR.” Katie rushed over to the driver’s side, and
together they unhooked his seatbelt, carefully moved him to the grass, and began CPR. Dean performed chest compressions while Katie
provided the breaths. By the time they
finished the third round, a few other vehicles had stopped to lend assistance. Dean shouted to the gathering crowd, asking if a
cell phone was available and for a call to 911 for assistance. A young teenager who had stopped quickly pulled
out his cell phone and dialed for help, while his date went to check on the elderly woman. A truck driver helped the teen with the woman,
who was now becoming hysterical as she watched Katie and Dean work on her husband.
By
the time the ambulance arrived, the two women had managed to get the man’s heart
beating, and he had recovered sufficiently to breathe on his own. A Virginia State Police vehicle arrived at the
same time as the ambulance. One officer went
to interview the woman, while the other crossed over to the where the EMT’s were
taking over from Dean and Katie.
“Excuse
me,” called the officer, as the two women turned over the care of the man to the
ambulance crew, “may I have a word with you two?”
“Certainly,
officer,” Katie nodded, as they walked over to him.
“I’m
Sergeant Dooley,” he identified himself as he offered his ID for their inspection. “May I have your names, please? The question
came as he pulled out his report pad.
“Deanna
Peterson,” Dean said, then motioned towards Katie, “and this is Katherine
O’Malley.
The
officer made a notation. “Do you have
any idea what happened here?”
We
were on our way from Washington National when a silver stretch limo, I believe it was a
Lincoln, sped between my SUV and the Mercedes these folks were driving. The car had to be going at least ninety miles an
hour when he cut between the two of us.”
“Did
you notice the plate and get the number?”
Pen at the ready, he calmly waited for their reply.
“At
ninety miles an hour?” Katie asked incredulously.
“We were lucky Dean was able to keep control of the car.”
“Yes,
ma’am, but did you notice anything significant about the car? There’s got to be at least two hundred silver
stretch limos in Washington alone. Anything
that could identify this particular one would be a big help.”
“It
had Embassy flags,” Dean answered. “I
can’t be sure which Embassy… went by too fast, and it’s too dark.”
“Well,
that narrows it down a little, but if it was an embassy vehicle, we might as well hang it
up now, ‘cause we’ll never see justice done.” He jotted a few notes in his pad before closing
it. “Well, thank you, ladies. Is there somewhere we can reach you if we need
to?”
Both
women took their business card cases from their coat pockets and handed their cards to the
officer. He took them, reading the
information, then whistled. “Well, thank
you, Colonel Peterson, Agent O’Malley. If
you think of anything else, please give me a call.”
He handed one of his cards to each woman and returned to his squad car.
As
they walked back to the road, Katie asked a contemplative Dean, “You actually saw
flags on that limo?”
“Mmhmm,
and I think they were Algerian, and I may have seen the guy in the passenger seat before. If I’m right, he’s a mercenary named
Scott Gentry.”
“You
could get all that and still keep the SUV under control?” Katie shook her head in wonder. “So why didn’t you tell the
officer?”
“Like
he said, if they were embassy flags, you might as well forget about it, it’s a lost
cause.” Dean shrugged. “C’mon,
there’s a break in traffic, let’s get back to the truck.” She grabbed Katie’s arm and led her across
the highway to where the SUV was parked.
Once
the vehicle was back on the road, the young blonde turned in her seat to face her partner. “Dean?”
“Mmmm?”
“Why
do you think the limo was in such a hurry that it would risk cutting us off like
that?”
“Don’t
know, love. Could be they were late for a
meeting, or maybe the driver just likes to speed. We’ll
probably never find out.” Dean glanced
over at Katie, winked, and gave her a crooked smile before adding, “I just need more
time to process what I saw. But -- if
there’s a way to figure it out, I will.”
Katie
smiled at her lover and put her left arm behind Dean’s neck and began a gentle
massage of tight neck muscles. “You
know, hon, I just bet you will.”
*
* * * * * *
Chapter
2
1900
Hours, 21 October
Dean
and Katie pulled into the parking lot for the Crab Pot Restaurant at precisely 7:00 PM,
observing the tour bus unloading its passengers by the door. Linna and Tracy were holding the door open for the
last of their seniors when Linna spotted Katie exiting the SUV. Insuring that the last
person was clear, Linna let go of the door and began waving at her. “Hey, Katie!” Linna shouted.
“I’ll
go get them all seated and make my rounds with the group.
Why don’t you go over and say ‘hi’ to Katie and Dean. I’ll meet you inside in a bit,” Tracy
told Linna before she followed her last senior inside.
Linna smiled her thanks, then walked briskly over to the SUV and gave each woman a
heartfelt hug.
“Jeez,
it’s good to see you two! How the heck
are yas?” Linna exclaimed exuberantly.
“We’re
good, Linna,” came Dean’s simple reply. Katie,
on the other hand, immediately began to quiz Linna on their tour so far. Dean just smiled as she listened to the women
chatter as the three made their way into the restaurant.
Damn, I really owe Linna big time! If
she hadn’t been so damned curious, Katie would be dead, and the whole case would have
turned out quite differently. Tracy sure has
one heck of a secretary in that woman.
“Oh,
it’s been really great,” she began enthusiastically, “but I can see
we’re going to have to take several trips here before we can see all the sights. There’s just too much to see and do in this
town! We must have walked twenty miles today
alone!”
“Yeah,
there’s certainly a lot to do here,” Katie agreed. “What have you found most interesting so
far?”
Linna
began a dialogue on all the sights they had visited that day while Katie listened in
earnest, nodding at the appropriate times and making comments on her visits to the same
sites. As the two women conversed, Dean
walked over to the hostess desk and waited in line. When
it was her turn, she gave her name and another hostess came forward to lead the three
women to their reserved table overlooking the Potomac.
Katie and Linna talked the entire time until Tracy made her way over and sat down.
“I
see Linna’s filling you in on our tour so far,” Tracy said with a grin, then in
a soft aside to Dean she added, “I think this trip is a winner already. Linna is definitely impressed, and that’s the
real battle on these trips. She demands the
best for our people and doesn’t stop ‘til she gets it.”
“Hey,
if I were a tour operator, I’d be doing everything I could to keep that woman
happy!” Dean chuckled softly. “I
certainly wouldn’t want to be on her bad side.”
The two women chuckled in agreement, then turned their attention back to their
tablemates.
“What’s
so funny?” Katie asked, raising an eyebrow at Dean.
“Oh,
nothing, love. Tracy and I were just enjoying
Linna’s enthusiasm for the trip so far,” Dean commented quickly, then winked at
Tracy.
Linna
looked over at her boss and gave her one of her stern questioning looks, to which Tracy
quickly responded, “It’s the truth, Linna.
Really!” Then all four of them
burst out laughing.
When
dinner was finished, Katie tapped her water glass to get the attention of her friends
before speaking. “When Dean told me we
were going to have dinner with you two tonight, I decided to wait until now to make my
announcement.” Dean raised an eyebrow at
her partner, surprised by her secrecy. Katie
had a terrible time keeping things from Dean, so she was truly curious about what was
coming next. “After our little
assignment in the Catskills, I started to re-think some of my goals with the DEA. And I
made a few discreet inquiries. Yesterday,
before I left El Paso, I received confirmation on a new assignment I requested.” She paused for effect and found three sets of eyes
totally focused on her. “Starting the
first week in December, I will be assigned to the DEA’s new Justice Training Center
in Quantico as an instructor!”
Dean
was the first to break into a huge grin, knowing that this would mean that she and Katie
would be able to spend more time together. It
took a little longer for Tracy and Linna to realize the significance of the assignment
before they, too, joined in with smiles of their own.
“Wow! That’s great Katie! What will you be teaching?” Linna asked
excitedly.
“Well,
hand-to-hand combat methods, small weapons training, and some classes on surveillance and
undercover techniques, for starters.”
“They
sure picked your strong points,” Tracy commented, reaching over to give Katie a pat
on the shoulder. “The new recruits will
be getting the very best.” They all
lifted their glasses and toasted her new assignment.
“Guess that means you two will get to see each other a bit more, eh?” she
added with an even bigger grin that brought a nice rosy flush to the young woman’s
cheeks as well as to Dean’s. “Well,
this calls for some kind of celebration, and I think I have just the right thing in
mind.” Tracy smiled broadly at her two
friends. “How much time off have you two accrued?”
Dean
replied that she had about forty-five days, and Katie thought she had twenty-one. “Great!
How would you two like to join Colleen and me at our condo in the Bahamas for the
middle two weeks in November?”
Before
they could answer, Linna jumped in and started raving about the great time she had there
the year before ending with “…so you just gotta go!”
Dean
looked over at Katie and immediately recognized that her young lover was already picturing
herself on the beach. Slipping into that
visualization, Dean pictured Katie in a bikini stretched out on the sand. That thought alone led her to quickly accept the
offer. “That’s really generous of
you, Tracy. We’ll have to check our
calendars and make sure we can get the time cleared.
When would you have to know by?”
“Any
time before we step on the plane to leave is good with us.
As long as you can get there, we’d love to have you.”
“Okay,
we’ll check into it and let you know as soon as we can,” Dean finished with a
smile, as Katie gave her leg a squeeze under the table.
Before
long, it was time for the tour bus to load and for the old and new friends to part once
more. Of course, all of the seniors wanted to
know who the two women with Linna and Tracy were, so there were many introductions and
handshakes in the parking lot before the groups finally went their separate ways.
*
* * * * * *
The
ride back to Dean’s house outside of Occoquan, Virginia took less time than the ride
into D.C., as most of the traffic was still heading north on I 95 into the greater D.C.
area. Dean really enjoyed the privacy her
house afforded them. It was located on a dead
end street, just across the water from the southeastern tip of Fountainhead Regional Park
on the Occoquan River. Although a fairly
large home, considering some of the houses her neighbors had, it was not too big. Dean had designed it herself in the style of Frank
Lloyd Wright’s famous Fallingwater home in Pennsylvania, only she omitted the
boulders in the living room and by the hearth. Other
than that, she tried to stay true to his style, while blending in some of her own
innovations as well. The lot was perfect for
the design, and the seclusion at the end of the road was great. It was a labor of love and the finished product
showed it. She was glad that it was finally
finished, having just moved in two weeks previously.
Dean was looking forward to furnishing it beyond the essentials she currently had,
putting off any major purchases in hopes of getting Katie’s input. The place already had the seal of approval from
Katie’s three cats, Sugar, Spice and Butter, since they had been staying with her
while Katie was on assignment in El Paso. The
trio of felines had totally taken over in the two weeks since they moved from the cramped
apartment Dean had occupied in Georgetown. Katie
had not yet seen the finished product, because they slept Friday night in Katie’s old
apartment in Arlington, then spent almost their entire Saturday cleaning it and storing
the rest of her furniture, before they left to meet Tracy and Linna.
As
Dean slowed for her exit off I 95, she looked over at her napping passenger and smiled. “Hey sleepy head… we’re almost
home.”
“Mmmm…”
the young woman protested, “did you have to wake me just now? I was having the best dream.”
“Well,
sorry I woke you then. Was I in it?”
“No,”
Katie began with a mischievous twinkle in her eye, “but, there was this drop dead
gorgeous redhead in it. And we were making
mad passionate love on the beach…” Her words came to an abrupt halt as Dean
reached over and gave Katie a playful smack on her arm.
“Ouch! What was that for?” Katie’s response was as exaggerated as the
tap was soft.
“That,
was for the big tease you are!” Dean
winked as she turned off the exit ramp onto Route 641.
“I hope you like the way the house turned out.
There’s not much furniture yet, just the essentials. But it certainly looks a lot better than when you
saw it before you left for El Paso.”
Katie
had been in El Paso on assignment since the last week in July and only saw the rough
design of the house, leaving Dean to play architect and general contractor. Dean knew she was in for a surprise, and hoped
that Katie liked the finished product as much as she did.
“I
can’t wait to see it! I went on-line to
check out Wright’s Fallingwater house, and that one looks spectacular.”
“Well,
I just hope I did him justice with the adaptation of his design to my lot,” Dean
replied, starting to get nervous about Katie’s reaction to the surprise she’d
left in the bedroom. Dean had already asked
her lover to move in when her El Paso assignment was finished, at least until her next
assignment took her away again. They had both
agreed that it was foolish for her to pay for an apartment that sat empty most of the
time. Now, with the instructor’s
position coming up in December, well -- things were looking better and better.
“Do
you think you’ll be able to swing a vacation in the Bahamas?” Katie asked her
partner as they headed down the road.
“Probably. It would be nice to be on a warm beach when
it’s cold back here.”
“Unhuh.”
Katie shivered at the mere thought of snow, having had her fill the previous winter in the
Catskills. “Oooo… that would mean
you’d have to wear a bathing suit most of the time.
Like that nifty little bikini I made you buy last the time I was here. Oh, yeah, I definitely want to go the
Bahamas!”
Dean
turned the corner onto her street as she thought about Katie in a bikini. Yeah, I think a trip to the islands is in
order. Soon they pulled into the long
winding driveway that was cut through the woods. “Well
here we are, home sweet home!” She hit
the garage door opener, pulled the SUV in, and turned off the ignition. When she hit the button once more, the
garage door closed behind them. The
spectacular view of the house was now waiting on the other side of the small side door.
“Home! That’s such a nice word.” It’s implications only served to emphasize
Katie’s uncertainty, and she knew she should take this opening to try and resolve
that. In a hesitant voice, she asked, “Are you sure you want me to move in with
you?”
Dean
looked over at the young blonde, giving her one of her best raised eyebrow, “I
wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t mean it” looks, before pulling Katie into
her arms.
“Yes,
love, I do. I’ve been waiting for this
moment for a very long time. Besides our
house is located just right. The perfect
commute for both of us.” She lowered her
head, stealing a kiss from the woman she lost her heart to nearly a year before. “You’ll go south and I’ll go north. Of course, I have to deal with more traffic on my
commute, but then I drive a bit more aggressively than you do. C’mon, let’s go inside.” Dean walked over to Katie’s side of the
vehicle, taking her love’s hand as she led her to the side door of the garage,
opening it gallantly to display the house--illuminated in beams of soft light coming from
the outdoor receptacles.
“Oh,
Dean. It’s absolutely
breathtaking!” Katie whispered as she caught her first full view of the house. She gave Dean an appreciative look before she
continued. “I can’t wait to see how the inside looks, but I think we need to
talk about something first.” Katie’s
voice quavered on the latter portion of the sentence, exhibiting obvious anxiety about
something. ”How about we take a little
walk down by the water first?” Katie requested nervously as they exited the detached
garage, walking on the slate path towards the house.
I need to get this out before I walk into that house, just in case I have to
walk out of it, she thought glumly.
Okay,
love. What’s on your mind?
the tall woman thought before saying with a flourish, “Whatever madam wishes.” They took the intersecting path that led down the
steep embankment towards the river. The two women walked quietly, arm-in-arm, enjoying the
Indian summer that had descended on the area. When
they came to the river, Dean led Katie over to the teakwood bench on the flagstone patio
along the riverbank. As they sat listening to
the gentle waves lap along the shoreline, Dean waited for Katie to break the silence.
“Dean?” Katie began hesitantly.
“Mmm?”
Katie
rested her head on Dean’s shoulder and sighed before she began to speak. “I probably should have talked to you about
my re-assignment. I guess that was kind of a
bomb I dropped at dinner. I mean…
I… I just assumed it would be all right.” She
looked searchingly into the eyes of her lover, then continued, “It is all right,
isn’t it?”
Oh,
so that’s what’s bothering you, you’re afraid I’m not ready for you to
be here full time… only when you’re
in between assignments. “It’s more than all right. It’s perfect.” The tender response was followed by a sweet kiss
as Dean wrapped her arms around Katie. “I
miss you so much when you’re not here, and you can’t imagine how I worry about
you when you’re on assignment.” She
felt Katie tense a little in her embrace. “No,
no… I know you’re an excellent field agent.
I just can’t help but worry. I
don’t want to lose you… ever!”
“And
I don’t want to lose you either,” came Katie’s reply. “I want to be close to you… all the
time… not just between assignments. That’s
why I did it.” Katie laid her head back
on Dean’s shoulder and began idly tracing a pattern on the woman’s strong thigh.
Concerned
that Katie was making the change just for her, and that it might not be the most
appropriate use of her lover’s skills, Dean asked, “Are you sure you’ll be
satisfied just teaching? You’ll be
missing a lot of the action, and teaching can become boring with the repetition of
information from class to class.”
“I’m
not worried about that. I know it will be a
big change, but it will be for the better. For
us.” Katie reached up and placed her
hand over Dean’s heart.
“Well,
I probably won’t get a field assignment any time soon, but there may come a day when
I do, and I’ll have to go.” Dean
shifted to look into Katie’s eyes. “How
will you feel about that?”
The
young woman closed her eyes, took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly before she opened
her eyes again. “I see what you mean
about worrying. I guess I’ll have to
cross that bridge when we come to it. Let’s
just hope it doesn’t come too soon. I’d
kinda like to get my fill of you before they ship you off to Timbuktu.”
“Mmmm,”
came the soft reply as Dean reached up with her free hand and caressed Katie’s cheek. “What say we head up to the house and start
working on that ‘getting-your-fill’ thing now?” Dean finished the statement
with a radiant smile and a raised right eyebrow.
“Mmm,
sounds good to me,” Katie answered as she turned her head and kissed the palm of
Dean’s hand. Then the two women rose and
walked back up to the house: Dean with her
arm around Katie’s shoulder, and Katie with her arm around Dean’s waist. As they approached the house, Dean’s thoughts
turned to the bedroom filled with white roses and she smiled, no longer nervous about her
partner’s reaction to her surprise.
*
* * * * *
Sunday
morning was spent exploring every detail of the new house.
Dean was thrilled to see Katie’s reaction to her dream home as she watched her
lover bounce from one room to the next. The
young woman was totally in awe of the way the house and its surroundings seemed to meld
together. The combinations of rough and soft,
dark and light, wood and rock, combined together in the three levels of the house to make
a spectacular statement of form and function.
“This
is truly magnificent!” Katie said as they returned to the kitchen. She couldn’t help touching the walls and
counters as she danced around the room. “You
must be really proud of it.”
“I
am,” Dean replied simply as she began scrambling eggs for their breakfast.
“Thank
you, Dean, for making me a part of all this. And
thank you again for the roses. That was the
sweetest thing I’ve ever experienced in my life.”
Katie slid up behind the tall woman and put her arms around her in a gentle hug,
resting her head against the strong back. They
stood that way for a long moment, enjoying each other’s closeness until the sound of
the door chime broke the spell.
“Now,
who could that be?” Dean wiped her hands
on the kitchen towel before she walked to the front door.
Katie,
having released her hold on her beautiful lover, joined Dean at the front entrance. Looking out the window, they noticed a flower
delivery truck in the driveway. Opening the
door, Dean gave the young deliveryman a quizzical look.
“Deanna
Peterson?” he inquired.
“Yes.”
“These
are for you.” He handed her the heavy
basket and was amazed at the ease with which she took it from his hands. “Umm, I have another basket in the truck for a
Katherine O’Malley, but the address is incorrect.
They said you might know where she lives.”
“I’m
Katie O’Malley.” Katie stepped out of the entrance and smiled at him, then
looked at the huge basket of flowers Dean was holding.
“Great!”
he responded with a big smile. “Saves me
a trip trying to find you. Be right
back.” He dashed to the truck and
returned with another basket of flowers. “Have
a nice day, ladies.” He tipped his
baseball cap and walked briskly back to the van.
The
two women took their flowers into the house, closing the door behind them. Looking at each other in surprise, they each set
their gift down on the bench by the door and withdrew the gift card. Both cards had the same handwritten note:
Thank
you for being good Samaritans and coming to our aid Friday night. Without your quick response, a night of joy would
have become a night of tragedy.
Sincerely,
Arthur
and Gwenevier Lyons
“Wow! That was really nice. Wonder how they found your address?” Katie looked up at Dean with a big grin. “Hey… Arthur and Gwenevier… like in
King Arthur and Queen Gwenevier?”
“Nah!” Dean laughed as she picked up the baskets and
returned to the kitchen, “They were much
too young to be that Arthur and Gwenevier.” Which
provoked more laughter before she got serious enough to answer Katie’s question. “They probably got our names from the police,
then traced me here through the Pentagon. They
couldn’t find you because I didn’t leave a forwarding address at your apartment
when I moved your personal stuff here.”
“Well,
that sure was nice of them. I wonder how
Arthur is doing,” Katie said thoughtfully.
“He
must be doing fine or we would have gotten a different message on the cards.” Dean
replaced her card in the envelope and put it on the table next to the basket. “C’mon, breakfast is ready.”
*
* * * * *
Chapter
3
0600
Hours, 23 October
Monday
morning found both women sharing a commute to Arlington, Virginia. Dean was dropping Katie off at the Washington
headquarters for the DEA on Army Navy Drive. The
DEA building happened to be located just a stone’s throw from the Pentagon. Katie was pulling duty working in the
Intelligence Division until her new assignment started in December. She knew she’d be stuck doing paperwork for
the next two months, but she resigned herself to the fact, knowing that it wouldn’t
be forever. And, she had the extra bonus of
commuting with Dean every day.
After
dropping Katie off, Dean quickly proceeded to the Pentagon, anxious to get into her office
to do a little investigating on her own regarding the limo incident Friday night. She was almost positive that the passenger in the
limo was Scott Gentry, a really nasty mercenary, and the hairs on the nape of her neck had
been twitching all weekend; this was not a good sign!
Logging on to her computer, she ran a quick check on Gentry’s whereabouts. The records showed that he was last seen in
Nassau, in June of this year. Hmm, no luck
there, he must be lying low for some reason. Well,
let’s take a look at his file, and see what Mr. Gentry has been up to lately. She hit a few more keystrokes to pull up his
file. Oh yeah, he’s a foul one all
right. Yep, he was linked to Saddam during
Desert Storm, Qadhafi on several occasions, all sorts of nasty things in Mozambique,
Colombia, Mexico, Iran, and Algeria…. Hmmm, Mr. Diversity eh? Let’s see, his strong points seem to be no
scruples, a willingness to get his hands bloody, a mastery of armaments, and an
engineering background with a good dose of computer programming. Oh, great.
He was trained by good old Uncle Sam until he earned a dishonorable discharge. Dean went on reviewing his military record
which indicated several Uniform Code of Military Justice charges--ranging from theft,
disobeying an order, unauthorized absence, and so forth--finally leading to time at
Leavenworth. Next, she went on to review his
civilian records. Well, Dean
concluded, compared to his civilian record, he was a good boy in the Army. Wonder what he’s up to now? She closed his file, but hot flagged it first as a
potential threat, listing herself as the point of contact if he should be seen. That’ll alert the boys on the streets to
keep an eye out for him. Dean swiveled
her chair around to look out the window and did what she did best when thinking--she
rocked. She realized that doing just that
little bit of investigating got her adrenaline flowing, and it made her very aware of how
much she did not like what she was currently doing as aide to General Carlton. Only now, there was Katie to consider. She sat there rocking and twirling a pencil in her
fingers until her intercom brought her back to the present.
“Colonel?”
came the voice of Sergeant Major Tibbits.
“Yes?”
“The
general would like to see you at 1030 hours.”
“Fine,
I’ll be there,” she said as she tapped her pencil on her desk pad. “Anything in particular?”
“I
think it’s something about a car accident on Friday night,” he responded in a
hushed tone. Sergeant Major Tibbits had been
General James’ office aide, and he had always liked Colonel Peterson, so he felt very
protective of her since the general’s passing. “Is
there anything I can do?”
“No,
Sarge, this shouldn’t be a problem. Thanks
for the offer though,” Dean said with a smile, fully aware of his protective
inclinations. Now how would the general
know about that? Guess I’ll find out
soon enough. Dean looked at her watch and
noted that it was only 0930 and decided to get a cup of tea in the cafeteria -- and maybe
a honey bun, too.
*
* * * *
Katie
barely settled into her cubicle on the second floor, Intelligence Section, then sighed
when the section secretary came in with a pile of old case folders for her to review. Y2K didn’t have the dreaded effect that was
publicized for years prior to January 1, 2000, but there were a few minor glitches that
the agency was still straightening out. Her
job, for now, was to make sure the files on the computer matched the hard copy files
before they were sealed and sent to storage. The
Intelligence Section, being what it was, had to triple insure that all the little snatches
of information didn’t get lost in the black hole of cyberspace. After all, a minor glitch in the intelligence
field could result in huge errors on the playing field.
Oh
boy,
she sighed heavily, am I going to be able to handle this until December? What was that line in one of those
‘Rocky’ movies… keep your eye on the prize? The prize to her was Dean. Oh yeah, that helps! She smiled to herself and cheerfully tackled the
stack, one file at a time.
About
halfway through the second stack, she came upon a file jacket that made her scalp itch. Okay… she thought as she flipped open
the file to his vitals, so this is the guy Dean saw in the limo on Friday. Not a bad looking guy. Tall…6’2”, 210 lbs., dark brown
hair, brown eyes, no distinguishing marks except for a very thin scar extending from just
behind his left ear, under his jaw to his chin. Wonder
how he got that one! Let’s see why
the DEA is interested in him…. Then she flipped past his statistics and started
to read his rap sheets. Reviewing his folder, she found out pretty much the same
information that Dean had located in her office that same morning. Not a nice boy, are you, Scott? Too bad the locals couldn’t pin that drug
charge on you in Nassau, but I’ll just bet you were dirty. She turned back to his picture and studied it a
bit longer, committing his face to her memory. Well,
if you are working for Algeria now, I wonder which of your skills they’re interested
in? Checking the jacket against the
computer, she found that all of his information was up to date, so she set his file on the
finished stack and went on to the next jacket.
*
* * * *