Espionage and Eggs - Part 7

"She meant a lot to you," Jan's tone was soft and gentle.

"It was a senseless car crash on her way in one day that killed her," staring off into space for a moment he continued to talk almost as if it was yesterday, "I tried to make sense of it, but," and he stopped.  Jan had placed her hand over his.  It was more than just a touch.  They both felt the connection even though they hadn't opened their minds.  The warmth spread up from their fingers and made a mental connection that surprised them both.

"I'm sorry," didn't seem to cover it, "you seem to have had to deal with loss way too much lately," she was picking up on the man he had walked in with months ago when they had first made eye contact.  She knew both men had experienced a great loss but could feel the depth of it now.  He looked up and into her eyes and with an intensity she had never experienced, their eyes locked.  It was just a few minutes until the waitress came over with their food and the spell was broken.

"So, tell me how a desert dweller comes to love water," the spell was broken as they pulled their hands apart to eat.  For the next few minutes they both ate and talked not sure of what had just been shared.  It was almost as if they had been reading each other's minds; yet it had been a far more intense experience and definitely nothing either one of them had ever experienced with someone else.  The conversation meandered from her love of water because of a trip to the ocean when she was very young, to his love of climbing and what's now called base jumping as the only thing that had made him feel free.  It wasn't until her phone beeped that they were brought back to reality.

"Damn," she looked at the message on her phone.

"Being called in for an assignment?"  He wanted her to say no, but was pretty sure that wasn't going to happen.  As casually as he could he scooped up a bite of the omelet he had order.

"No, more like being caught playing hooky from one," at that information the fork stopped midway to Ward's mouth.  "Before you say anything more, I fixed it the same way you made sure I would be included in this training."

"Your cover?"  He wanted to be mad, angry.  She had jeopardized a mission and maybe a bunch of people's safety to be with him.  Yes, he wanted to be angry but what he really felt was flattered.

"Still good.  The bodyguard assigned to me for my special trip to the States won't be waking up for a couple more hours and when he does he won't be telling his boss about it," she took this moment to put a bite of food in her mouth.  "Raul will wake up in a seedy hotel, an awful headache, and more than enough proof happily provided by a well paid lady to show how good of a time he had."

"Really," Ward almost laughed.  She had taken a chance, but had set it up brilliantly.  Problem was it had still been a dangerous move.

"Assignment's heating up, I needed a break, and you ship out on diplomatic duty in a week," placing the fork back on her plate she crossed her arms on the table in front of her and stared at him.

Ward smiled.  Jan had managed to surprise him once again.  Instead of answering her unspoken challenge right away he also crossed his arms on the table and leaned in just a bit.  They had both just proven they could and would bend the rules for the right reasons; he wondered just how far she would go.

"How about you send a message back to Rob that you already have a ride," the smile grew wider and his eyes sparkled, "I'll drive you back and we can spend that time figuring out how many more rules we want to break."

Jan put the last bite of omelet into her mouth savoring the flavor.  He had been right this was a great place to eat.  She was just about to reach for the cup of coffee when her phone chimed.  They both half smiled as she looked at the offending object.  It wasn’t hard to guess who was calling, and if she was completely honest with herself, she had gotten away with this for longer than she had expected.

“Excuse me,” Ward slid out of the booth silently pulling out his wallet at the same time.  He was giving her both time and space to take the call, and wasn’t that sweet.  Something else she could like about him.  Jan watched him walk to the register, and she wasn’t ashamed to admit she was enjoying the view.

“Yes,” she said with a sigh.  Jan wasn’t ready to come back to the real world.

“Are you crazy?”  Rob, her handler or partner, was trying hard not to let the anger seep through but she could tell he was losing by the deep rumble and controlled tones.  He must have sweated through at least two shirts by now.  She almost felt guilty.

“No,” but before she could continue he jumped back into the conversation.  Leaning back against the booth she readied herself for the verbal tongue-lashing she was about to receive, and if she thought about it, deserved.

“Then why in the world are you jeopardizing all the work you’ve put into this operation as well as your personal security?  And let’s not even mention what you might be risking back at the department,” this time he wasn’t hiding the frustration, “I can’t keep you protected from everything you know.”

“I’ve got our assignment covered, and you might say that that big lug of a bodyguard Carlos sent along with me is uncovered,” she could almost hear Rob grind his teeth, “as for the department.  They don’t really care who I sleep with as long as I don’t make any attachments.  This may be a little out of the norm but…”

“There is still the matter of who you are spending your time with.  You don’t realize how much of a player he is?”  Now she could hear the worry in his voice.

“Aren’t we all players in this business?”  Jan heard him suck in air on that one and wished she could take it back just as soon as it left her mouth.

“You know what I mean my girl, and let me tell you he’s been through a number of ‘friends’,” making sure that he stressed the last word, “don’t think you are any different than the rest of them, and by the way you are better than that, or that either of you could be different than who you are or,” and this was where Rob ran out of ands, ors, or buts.  To his credit he didn’t stutter or growl.

“Alright Papa,” Jan couldn’t help but smile now.  Rob may be her partner, and the person who kept an eye on her for the department, but in the end he acted more like her father.  He had been more of a father, and better one, to her than her real father had been.  But when he started into the father mode she would always smile, secretly she liked it, but she couldn’t help but tease him about it. 

“Aghh,” his exasperation was evident, “I know what that means I lose.  You’ve had this set up for a while haven’t you?”

           “Yes and no.  I needed to blow off some of the steam that’s been building up on this assignment.  This sounded like fun, and it was.  I’m now more than ready to go back and take him down,” it was her turn to take a breath and sell the next statement, “And as you stated we can’t make any real commitments so that works out well for the both of us.  We have a little fun and then we both walk away, friends.  At least this time we are with another person who already knows the rules,” she glanced up and noticed that Ward was taking his time at the register.  She really hated this smiling thing that was happening to her, but she couldn’t help but smile when she looked at him.  He smiled right back at her as he slipped the wallet back into his pocket and made small talk with the cashier.