Trifecta (47 page)

Eve thought that Ivar was good at the game, but he did
not have a computer.  She had a Sabrina Thought that she should have Ivar take her
home when they had finished the third game, but she didn't feel like going back
to Sabrina's apartment.  She wanted to stay with Ivar a little longer.

"I think I better go home now,"  Eve said, obeying
the Sabrina Thought.

"I have to stay here and wait for a phone call.  I'll
call a taxi for you."

"It's only a few blocks.  I like to walk and see the
world."

Ivar thought that sometimes Eve said things a little strangely,
but that made her more interesting.  He did not want Eve to walk home.  First, it
was not safe.  He liked her very much and it was unthinkable that harm would come
to her that he could prevent.  Secondly, if she walked home alone, Malcolm would
think he wasn't doing his job. 

Ivar didn't think he could follow Eve covertly.  She was
very smart.  But he didn’t have much choice if she adamantly refused to take a taxi.

Eve walked to the door and Ivar followed her.  She opened
the door and then turned around.  "I had a good time playing chess with you,
Ivar."

"Wait a minute.  I'll go with you."

"The phone call?"

Ivar was thinking, To hell with the investigation and his
partner and the Russian KGB agent.  He couldn't let Eve walk the streets by herself. 
He had seen how, with all of her intelligence, she hadn't been able to fend off
a pathetic drunk.  She wouldn't have a chance alone on the streets. 

"I'm very strong.  No one will hurt me." 

Eve could tell that Ivar was having trouble deciding what
to do.  To reassure him, Eve stepped up close to him and hugged him.  It was something
Sabrina would have done at the end of a date with someone she liked.  But when Eve
started to move back she found that she didn't want to.  She was being hugged back. 
It was nice.  She felt like she was the one being reassured.  It was comforting
to be hugged very gently by such a big person.  In fact, Eve felt that although
the bodies were very close, it was not nearly as close as she wanted them to be. 
It was strange.  She hadn't liked the man in the bar touching even her knee.

Ivar closed the door behind her with a push of his hand. 
She remembered that Sabrina had said that when people had sex they wanted to be
alone.  Maybe that was what they were going to do.  Eve felt compelled to look up
at Ivar to ask, but she didn't get a chance because his mouth moved over hers. 
It lasted a long time.  Eve had the surprising feeling that she was losing control
over the body again.  It was not a rage feeling, but it was very strong because
Eve hugged Ivar harder and the kiss was suddenly much more compelling and intense. 
Ivar evidently thought so too because he moved her away from the door and back to
the couch. 

Ivar took off his jacket and then removed Eve's, too. 
Eve was glad because she felt very warm, almost too warm for wearing clothes.  It
was like she was heated inside the body because she felt no warmth on her skin.

The mouth touching was very nice, and it was nice to be
hugged.  Eve felt like hugging back with all of her strength, but she was careful. 
She was disappointed when Ivar stopped.

Ivar found Eve totally captivating.  He had been intrigued
by her naivety with the drunk, astounded at her mind boggling strategies with the
chess games, and now, very surprised that she was physically accommodating.  He
hoped it wasn't because she was so inexperienced that she couldn't fend him off,
because that was the impression he'd had of her in the bar.  It was puzzling because
she said she had been a model.  He couldn't figure how she could be inexperienced
if she had done that kind of work, with men coming on to her all the time. 

Ivar also stopped because he felt certain that if he continued,
as he would have liked, he would offend her and possibly never see her again.  He
was also upset with himself because he was acting in such an unprofessional manner. 
Like a real jerk.  A few moments ago, at the door, he had been willing to sacrifice
his position here in the United States, not even mentioning the KGB, which was depending
on him for knowledge about this woman.  So Ivar, feeling like a pawn in his own
chess game, put his hands around Eve's neck and into the back of her hair, as though
giving her a caress, feeling to make sure she wasn't wearing a wig.  She certainly
had no scars on her face or neck.  He was close enough to see that. 

"I didn't want you to stop,"  Eve said.

"I didn't wish to offend you."  Ivar removed
his hands from her hair and moved back from her disturbing nearness.

"It was pleasant,"  Eve said thoughtfully.

She must be a virgin. 

Ivar took a sip of his Perrier and a few deep breaths. 
He still didn't know how he was going to get her home.

"You don't seem to be experienced with men, so I thought
I should stop,"  Ivar offered, hoping to draw her out a little.

"In my mind, I am experienced." 

A definite virgin.

"Did I insult you? I would like to know more."

"No,"  Ivar almost laughed.

"Could we continue?" 

As Ivar kissed Eve he wondered if she was a trap.  Counter
intelligence of some kind to reveal his weakness for a beautiful woman.  Totally
unfit for his position here and easily overcome by another agent.  He would be disgraced,
lose his position, and be sent back to the Soviet Union.  Then he stopped thinking
altogether.

Eve had stopped thinking also and was experiencing something
utterly new.  Her mind was totally engrossed as Ivar unbuttoned her blouse, drew
it off and laid it on the table.  Kissing on the neck felt good and Eve threw her
head back so that he could have better access.  It didn't occur to her to stop Ivar
when he unhooked her bra and helped her out of it.  She had nice tingles when he
moved his mouth there. 

Eve wanted to reciprocate and helped Ivar take off his
shirt.  She thought he looked good.  She had never seen a nude man before.  When
Ivar took off the rest of his clothing she could see that men and women were quite
different.  She had thoughts that she should not be doing this, that the man might
hurt her, but the thoughts were not true because she didn't see how he could, even
though he had big muscles in his chest, arms and back.  She explored the muscles
with her hands.  She liked the way their bodies felt when they didn't have clothes
on and it occurred to her, finally, that something was missing.  A sensation.  It
was her remembrance that bodies were warm to the touch.  But she could feel warmth
inside her and could tell that her heart beat and respiration had become faster.

Ivar had positioned Eve so that she was lying down on her
back on the couch.  He was lying on his side beside her.  His hands moved over her
body, causing sensations that were as wonderful as seeing a sunset, or eating steak,
or having the high feeling when she ran at the gym.  Maybe even better.  As he touched
between her thighs with a feather light caress, Eve was surprised at the jolts and
tingles her whole body experienced.  Eve anticipated even more.  She pulled Ivar
so that he was almost lying above her, propped to keep his weight off of her with
his elbows.  She could feel him trembling and that his male part was very hard in
her hand, so she opened her legs so he could have access to her and felt the sensation
of warmth, finally, when he entered carefully and gradually inside her.  It was
exactly what she had wanted so much and she moved up to enclose him.

Ivar did not move for a while.  Then Eve was startled as
he moved in and out of her, understanding why there was so much literature about
this wonderful closeness of bodies.  She had read that the earth moved, or that
people were lost in ecstasy, and had wondered about it a bit curiously.  Certainly
the earth did not move, but something exquisite was happening inside her.  So she
moved in concert with Ivar to experience this ultimate pleasure of the body. 

Suddenly the body was out of control in a most sensational
way and she experienced waves of lovely feelings throughout her entire body. 

No wonder there were so many people in the world if this
is how they were conceived, Eve thought, when she and Ivar were finally resting
together.  He had been so nice that Eve felt what could only be classified as Love.

Ivar was relieved that Eve wasn't a virgin.  He had been
afraid that if she had been that he could not have controlled himself long enough
for her to experience pleasure.  Eve was so pretty that she excited him beyond the
point that most women did.  She seemed to like exploring his body and was not at
all hesitant about touching him, so Ivar concluded that she must be experienced
even though she was quite young. 

Eve was also totally uninhibited about him looking at her
and seemed extremely comfortable not wearing any cloths.  Most women Ivar had known
would make love, but they were reluctant the first time, and then always wanted
to immediately cover themselves with clothing, as though suddenly beset with modesty,
and as though he had never seen them nude.  Of course this woman was so beautiful
that maybe she didn't feel that way.  So Ivar enjoyed looking at Eve.  She appeared
extremely content, maybe pleased, and that made him feel good, like he had caused
great pleasure.  She stretched like a beautiful cat and then curled against him,
putting an arm around his shoulder.  She fell asleep as he petted her hair.

Eve's arm was over Ivar's shoulder and it dangled over
his back.  He was surprised that it seemed to be so heavy after she went to sleep. 
He didn't want to disturb Eve, but the arm was making him uncomfortable.  He picked
it up and moved it off of his shoulder and put it down between them.  The weight
of the arm was unbelievable and he grasped the wrist gently and lifted it again. 
He thought she must be resisting him, so he waited a while and uncurled the fingers
to make sure she was still asleep.  Then he again lifted the arm from the forearm
area.  He had been right.  It must weigh two or three times that of a normal arm.

Ivar sat up quickly, alarmed, and looked at Eve sleeping
peacefully.  He thought that maybe he was mistaken, that she really had been resisting
him, so he went to the end of the couch and grasped her ankle.  He found he had
trouble picking up the flaccid leg using the strength of both of his arms. 

Ivar waited five minutes to make sure that Eve was really
asleep before going to her purse and looking inside.  There was no wallet, comb
or lipstick.  All he saw was the ten dollar bill and a large bottle of syrup. 

Ivar sat down on the floor and drank Eve's unfinished drink. 
The investigation must be about this intriguing woman.  He realized that he did
not want her to be the focus of the investigation.  He wanted to get to know her
better and spend time with her.  He wanted Eve to be a normal person.  The fact
that she could play chess like a computer and the fact that she was unbelievably
heavy pointed to the fact that she was different in some unfathomable way. 

Ivar remembered that when Eve had wanted him to enter her
she had lifted him on top of her.  She had done it so quickly he had not thought
about it in the midst of passion.  He had been afraid that he would fall on top
of her and crush her.  But she had actually pulled him up and over her, had in fact
almost picked him up to put him in position for lovemaking.  He thought now that
she must be very strong.  He was six feet, five inches tall and weighed a little
over two hundred pounds.

Ivar reached up and touched the skin on Eve's stomach. 
It was real skin.  Soft and smooth and warm.  She was not a robot.  He watched as
Eve suddenly started to tremble, and then she was crying.  Not soft cries, like
during their lovemaking, but loud sobs that racked her entire body. 

Ivar got up on the couch, lay down beside Eve, and put
his arms around her, holding her close.

A
lexander had felt like an imbecile; a worthless,
stupid, greedy shit when he left his father's hospital room that afternoon, but
now he knew what to do to get them all out of the terrible predicament his actions
had precipitated.

Obeying Ferd's instructions, Alexander and Stephan waited
until 9:00 p.m.  that night.  Then they maneuvered the wheelchair, with Stephan
inside, into a special van they had rented.  Alexander struggled into the drivers
seat with his crutches.  Driving was a bitch with his plastered leg jammed sideways
under the dash. 

Alexander knew that they were probably being followed,
and he kept an eye on the rear-view mirror, but he could not discern any one car
obviously tailing them.  Maybe he was paranoid.  He said as much to Stephan, who
told him it just indicated the spies were professionals; FBI, or even CIA.

Alexander parked in the yellow loading zone in front of
Ferd's Tanning Salon and cursed his own clumsy body when he painfully caught his
plastered leg on the accelerator.  He tumbled halfway outside the door, sideways. 
He must present a cute picture, Alexander thought, A big man almost falls out of
his van.  If a car had passed at that moment he would have been dead meat.

The plan was to have Stephan stay in the van and honk the
horn if anyone went inside after Alexander, but Stephan could not reach the horn
from the back of the van.  Alexander climbed back in again and turned the van around
so that it was pointed in the wrong direction at the curb.  Then he got Stephan
out of the van and positioned his chair beside the open door on the driver's side. 
The whole procedure was time consuming, with one man set in position in a wheel
chair by another man on crutches.

Stephan was whining that anyone who wanted to do them serious
harm could see how helpless they were.  Alexander countered that he still had his
gun.  He would not hesitate to use it.  Stephan said that that was fine for him,
but he was in a goddamn wheel chair, for Christ's sake.  When Alexander was inside
Ferd's apartment, he would have no protection.  Disgusted with all the whining,
Alexander gave Stephan the gun to shut him up.

Alexander felt a little uneasy when he entered the place
because it was so dark.  Maybe someone was inside.  He found the light switch and
looked around suspiciously.  No one.  The machinery Ferd wanted him to dismantle
was upstairs.  It would be a bitch getting up there on crutches. 

Halfway up he was sweating and shaking.  He had almost
fallen backwards a couple of times.  The stairs were narrow and steep and he couldn't
hold the hand rail and both of his crutches at the same time.  Then he realized
that he could go up without losing his balance on one knee.  It was demoralizing,
but much easier to crawl.  He kept painfully banging his plaster cast on the stairs
behind him as he dragged himself up.

Alexander went into the second bedroom, Ferd's laboratory,
and took the camera from around his neck.  He took pictures of all the machinery. 
He was almost finished when he heard the van's horn.  One honk meant that Stephan
had seen a pursuer.  Two signified danger. 

The second honk galvanized Alexander.  He lurched out of
the laboratory and started full speed down the stairs at a fast crawl.