get to bed early, okay?”
“No problem. See you about eight, okay?” he said.
Lynda replied, “Sure!” She got up and walked back to her room, swinging her hips. She was careful to not be followed. She stopped several times and peered back over her shoulder. No one was watching her either.
At eight she walked into the restaurant. She was wearing a white sundress. Ted had said that she looked stunning.
The Arab’s eyes lit up when he saw her, “Hi there, beautiful.” He seemed truly impressed.
“Hi, handsome.” Lynda smiled back. They ordered and just had light chitchat.
Then she said, “Where are we going when we get back to Texas?”
He answered, “I have reserved us a room at the tower in Dallas.”
“Sounds like fun!”
He grinned. “It sure does!”
They finished dinner and they walked out to the ocean. The moon was just coming up and left an orange ring and line in the smooth ocean. “Very romantic,” Lynda said.
Abdullah did not seem to see the romance in it. He said, “Let’s go for one last swim.”
They shucked off their clothes and got in the warm ocean. Another couple jumped in with them. It was Wayne and Marcia. They swam out about fifty yards and then swam back in to shore. They both played in the water for a good hour. Abdullah seemed upset that someone else was in the water with them. But there was nothing that he could do about it.
The next morning everyone was packed and ready to go home.
At the little airport, Abdullah was waiting on her. Lynda walked up to him, and said, “Hey, big boy!”
He took it as a compliment.
She was surprised to find that he had a seat right next to her. He was dressed in American clothes. They boarded the plane and took their seats. Lynda had all her luggage checked.
On the plane she asked him, “You know where I go to school. Where did you go?”
He thought long and hard. “I have been to several colleges, one in America. It was in New York. Most recently I went to the University of Pakistan.” He did not seem proud of his accomplishments.
The rest of the two-and-a-half-hour flight, Lynda kept the talk about their families. Never once did she get an inkling that Abdullah might be a terrorist.
She and Abdullah walked off the plane, and six uniformed officers threw Abdullah up against the wall and handcuffed him. There were four plain-clothed officers that she assumed were FBI men watching. Abdullah looked at Lynda and she just shrugged her shoulders at him.
Ted walked by her and she followed him to baggage claim. There they hugged like they had been apart for a month.
The drive home was special for both Ted and Lynda, until Ted said, “That was a close call. I thought he was raping you!”
Lynda was grim. “I had drunk too much, and I did not get it out of my system quick enough. I made a bad choice.”
Ted said, “Lynda, do you think this job is right for us? I do not like you being put under such stress and scrutiny.”
“Yeah,” Lynda said, “I wasn’t wild about the young girl climbing all over you. I nearly lost it.”
They pulled up in front of her mother’s house. Tasha came running out to them. She showered them both with hugs and kisses.
As the family of three headed home, Tasha asked, “Mommy, did anything exciting happen? Tell me an exciting story!”
Lynda laughed and said, “Honey, it was pretty boring; we just sunbathed on the beach and swam in the ocean. We did see a lot of colorful fish though.”
“No, Mommy, I mean about being spies, what did you do?”
“Honest, honey, Daddy and I did not do any spying; we just had a mini vacation. Next time we will take you!”
Tasha set back in the seat. She was put out. “Then what am I going to tell my friends tomorrow?”
“Just tell them that your mom and dad had a little vacation.” Lynda smiled at her daughter.
The next morning, Ted had to take Tasha to school; Lynda was sick to her stomach.
This went on for a week. Lynda assumed that she had just picked up a bug in the Bahamas.
Two weeks later, she was fine.
Tom called Lynda into his office. He said, “First, happy twentieth birthday!”
Lynda said, “Thank you, and second?”
Tom said, “Second, I have a deep undercover job. It is voluntary. You will be gone a month or longer.”
Lynda thought about what Ted had said on their drive home from the airport. Was she really cut out for this espionage stuff? She said, “I will have to talk to Ted. What can you tell me about it?’
Tom answered, “Wayne has been working on a terrorist cell in South America. It is very unusual, in that there are no Arabs in it. The group is just outside Buenos Aires, Argentina. They are a mixed group of angry Americans and Argentineans. We have concluded that they are planning a mass destruction scenario similar to what happened in Oklahoma. Perhaps as a woman you could befriend one of the men and get some information out of him. You would have to pass yourself off as a single college student, and I don’t know how involved you would be. I would send Wayne to watch over you and run protection for you.
Tom picked up his phone and punched a number.
Wayne walked in. He smiled at Lynda. “Lynda, this is one of the most dangerous jobs that I have been on. I have talked to several of the terrorists, and they are absolutely crazy with hate for America.”
Lynda asked, “Why?”
Wayne said, “I am not sure why. They all seem to feed off each other. I have to tell you, Lynda, you might get in, be brainwashed, and we might not be able to get you out in time. The last agent just disappeared. We have absolutely no idea what happened to him.”
Tom said, “We would give you an intensive three-day course in Spanish, but you could not use it. You would just use it to figure out what they are doing when they don’t want you to know.”
Lynda went back to her own office. Something in her screamed, “NO!” She called Ted and told him about the job. He said, “No.”
She called Tom. “I will do it, Tom, but this is my last field job. I think that I am pregnant.”
Tom also tried to talk her out of it. But she was determined.
She started the crash Spanish course that afternoon. She was amazed at how much Spanish she already knew. The first two days were intense. By the third day she could carry on a conversation with a Spanish-speaking person. She was surprised at how quickly she learned the language. She could read a little and write some, but not much.
Ted was not happy. They had a big fight, but all that stopped them was when Tasha walked in. Lynda was adamant that she was going. Ted was equally adamant that she was not. Lynda finally convinced Ted that she would be okay.
On Sunday evening, Lynda was on her way to Buenos Aires. The first thing she did when she arrived was find a furnished apartment. The next thing she did was go to a grocery store. She was glad she could read Spanish, as most of the goods were in Spanish. She loaded up her new refrigerator, and set the A/C on cold. She cooked herself a meal and went to take a nap. She was going to cruise the bars tonight. She had photos of the men that she was to locate.
When she woke up from the nap she called Wayne. He was in a hotel room. He stopped by her place for a visit. They outlined the method that she would use to locate the men, and that Wayne was going to follow her. She was to frequent a number of different bars.
Lynda went to the first bar at dusk. She ordered a Coke and waited on Wayne to arrive. He arrived and sat at a table. He signaled her that no one of interest was there. She walked to the next bar. She stopped at the counter and got a beer. Wayne came in and they both noticed that two men were playing pool. Lynda edged over and watched them. One of the men spotted her and said, “If you want to play, put your money on the end of the table, here,” and he pointed at the end of the table. She was a good p
layer but was not a fool.
She acted unsure of herself and said, “I will just watch. You go ahead.” She realized that he had spoken to her in English. She saw Wayne playing pool at the next table. He winked at her. She ignored him. She was ignoring everyone in the place except the two pool shooters.
The young man said, “Hey, old man, me and this lady will take you and Rico on in doubles!” Lynda realized that this was his way of meeting her. Wayne looked at the young punk, and said, “My name is Wayne. How ’bout me and the lady take you boys on?” He obviously winked at Lynda again. This seemed to infuriate the young man.
He said, “No, I got dibs on her first.”
Wayne shook hands with Rico, and they stood talking. The young man came up to Lynda and meekly said, “My name is Ramon, what is yours?”
She told him her name. Ramon introduced everybody. He asked her if she wanted to “break.”
She shook her head “no,” timidly.
Ramon said, “Please break, please.”
Lynda picked a cue stick, did not look at it, but lined up to break. She hit the first ball squarely. None went in. Wayne laughed real loud.
This seemed to offend Ramon. He said, “Watch it, old man.”
Wayne seemed to continually pick on Ramon. He also picked on Lynda. Lynda acted scared of Wayne. Wayne was much bigger than either of the two younger men. He seemed to work at intimidating Ramon the worst.
Wayne nearly ran the table. He and Rico won, Rico high-fived Wayne. Wayne bought a round of drinks for everyone. This seemed to lighten the tension. He was constantly flirting with