Adventure Story

Caitlin tapped her foot on the floor impatiently. She was grumpy, tired, sweaty, and bored out of her freaking skull. Mind you, they had been stuck in the stupid airport in Riyadh for the past twelve hours so the irritation was justified.
“Caitlin…” a soft sneaky voice called to her.
“Don’t you dare,” she murmured from under her hat.
“Caitlin,” the voice came again.
“Piss off.” The words came out harshly.
“Fine.” The voice was huffy, and Caitlin sighed.
“Okay, Jess, what is it?” She turned to her “friend,” and a balloon filled with hot water hit her collarbone, soaking her and her now very see-through white shirt.
“FUCK, FUCK, FUCK! Jess! This was my ONE clean shirt…” She paused. “Where did you get the water?”
“Thirsty?” Jessica smirked.
“Parched, and you know I hate you, right?” Caitlin said dryly.
“Yes, and I hate you, too.” Jessica’s smirk widened.

Finally, they boarded the plane and left the hot hell of Riyadh, thankfully and blissfully heading to the somewhat cooler air of London to meet their best friend and partner-in-crime, Julie, and her lover Eric, who happened to also assist them in their so-called adventures. The girls had met Eric two years before when on their second job. He had asked Julie out right away, taking her to a jazz concert and holding her hand the entire night. Caitlin and Jess (or Neafie, as everyone else in this whole bloody world calls her) were a bit suspicious at first, only wanting the best for their best friend, but he seemed to (almost) be good enough for her, so they were happy if a little guarded.

“So, where did you guys go?” Eric asked.
“And what sort of legal strings do I need to pull for you this time,” Julie added.
The girls laughed.
“We traveled around Somalia, Oman, and Saudi – not too bad except for the airports…and we didn’t end up in jail anywhere this time – if we had, we’d probably still be there,” Caitlin replied. She shared a covert glance with Jessica, both of them secretly swearing not to tell their worried friend about the small, minute, tiny scuffle with the police in Oman. They’d had to sneak over the border into Saudi and then make their way to Riyadh, which had – they admitted – not been easy.
Julie scoffed, not easily duped, but allowed the girls to live with their lie. There would be plenty of time to kill them later.
“Like when you had to bail us out of that Slovak prison…and the Armenian one…” Jessica mentioned.
“And the one in Poland,” added Caitlin, clearly amused by the routine of naming their extensive record of international jail time.
“And Greece.”
“That was a simple misunderstanding…ooh, remember Myanmar?”
“How could I forget?” Jessica grinned at the memory.
“Okay, okay, you both can take care of yourselves and just call me when you need me.” Julie held up her hands in mock despair and real concession, acting as the pacifier and the rock upon which the other girls stood. They would never have made it through if not for her, and they all knew it.
“We’ll do more than that,” Jessica said slyly.
“I’m worried now; what’s going on?”
“We have this black tie affair in Rome tomorrow and we need you to go – neither of us speak Italian…I know, I know, everything normally goes through you, but Jonathan…” Caitlin began.
“Jonathan called me and invited all of us,” Jess interrupted her. “He even said that the NUN over there” – pointing to Caitlin – “could bring a date.”
“The whole point,” Caitlin said, glaring at Jessica, “the whole point is that there is someone he wants us to meet. So, not only does Jess get to do the full frontal tango with Starry Eyes, but we get a job, too…”
Julie looked thoughtful for only a moment before declaring, “Okay, let’s pack for Rome.”


They arrived more than fashionably late the next night to the opening soirée of an exhibit on Greco-Egyptian influence on Roman art and architecture, which irritated both Caitlin and Julie. Jessica was much more laid-back about the whole thing, really only focusing on one thing. Caitlin and Julie were both thinking about the job (well, more of Julie’s attention was on how fantastic Eric looked in a tux, but she was also worried about the job, too).
Jonathan De Vine met them in the foyer, looking dashing and debonair and downright fuckable in his Armani tuxedo. He was aristocratic in a way that only the British can be, but friendly and relatable and had eyes only for Jessica, which amused Caitlin to no end since while Jessica liked him and maybe even loved him, she didn’t have eyes only for him and maybe never would. However, she only acted on her amusement in private and never in front of Jessica. Ahem.
The moment Jessica stepped into the estate, he grabbed her and dragged her off, nodding slightly to her companions.
“Apparently he’s pro-caveman,” Caitlin whispered to Julie who giggled and took Eric’s arm. “Come on, let’s get something to drink. We won’t see them for quite a while.”


Caitlin scanned the room, looking for the familiar face she had first seen when they had entered. Jessica and Jonathan still hadn’t shown up…though, that was predictable, and Eric and Julie were discussing music with the American ambassador’s eldest son. Finally, she spotted him across the crowd and discreetly caught his eyes, raised her drink, and then walked toward one of the hallways. He caught up with her a few minutes later.
“What are you doing here, Patrick?” The man was tall and good-looking with strong features and slightly graying hair. This very handsome man with twinkling eyes was not someone she wanted to see, though; this man was her advisor, Patrick Sloane. He headed up her individual operations, getting her more dangerous (well, the way the girls played them, hardly anything could be more dangerous), more challenging, and more diverse roles. Most of them lasted only a few days so she could be under the radar, though sometimes the preparation for the stint would take weeks or months of weeding through intelligence. One reason why she had her own apartment. Neither of the other girls knew about her individual stints; normally she told them she had a job to do, working as a translator in various countries around the world for several IOs and a couple of businesses.
It wasn’t that she wanted to deceive her friends, but she wanted something more than just the occasional job and she wanted to be challenged alone. Sometimes things could be even more thrilling when you’re flying solo. You have to rely on you.
Another reason why she didn’t want to see Patrick was that she was sleeping with him, or had been. They hadn’t seen each other in three months, and as much as she missed the sushi dinners and talking about operations, she didn’t miss him. He was a piece of furniture in the living room of her life, able to shift and change and be removed.
“I’m here to meet some people, some friends of a friend. You?”
“Same: a friend of a friend of a friend.” He drew closer to her, and Caitlin became uncomfortable.
“Patrick…”she warned.
“Caitlin, why haven’t you talked to me? It’s been months! Christ, I’ve missed you…all I did was ask you to marry me. Most women would be happy to be asked.”
“Happy? Happy? You think I would be happy to be asked to marry you? What the fuck ever gave you that impression,” she hissed. “We know nothing about each other. All we ever did was fuck…that is not a relationship and that is not love, not even companionable love. Just because we have a healthy dose of lust between us does not mean we should marry, I’m sorry.” She glanced over toward a movement down the hallway. “Fuck.”
“What is it? Oh, it’s you, Jonathan.”
Standing in front of one of the rooms further down the corridor were the slightly rumpled couple, Jonathan and Jessica.