by G. R. Cody
Eve waited while Felix got their keys from the desk sergeant, and they made their way to the elevator. Once in, Felix pressed 5, and continued.
“You seem pretty comfortable here,” Eve said as the elevator doors closed, a slow, Spanish guitar tune filling the compartment.
Suddenly, Felix’s smile broke, and Eve thought she noticed a brief melancholy look.
“I’ve…um…been here several times,” Felix said, his eyes downcast. “But it has been a long time.”
There was a brief, uncomfortable silence, which Eve broke by changing the subject.
“Did the feed help you at all?”
“It did, a bit,” Felix said, his brow furrowed. “But I want to review it a couple more times. By dinner, I hope to have more of a handle on what is going on, and hopefully we can work toward straightening things out with HSA and get you back home.”
Eve was surprised, but relieved that Felix was thinking of her welfare, and not only about his job.
“Well, that would be nice,” Eve said perfunctorily, but oddly, she felt a bit of disappointment.
The elevator lighted, they both stepped into more of a foyer than corridor, one door just steps to the left, the other the same distance to the right.
Felix handed her a key card. “Yours,” he said, and gestured to he left, “…and mine,” another gesture to his right. “If you need anything, just knock. I won’t be sleeping. Get some rest, if you can, that is. I will come collect you in about six hours. It is noon now, so around 6. We’ll have some dinner, and I can explain where we go from here. And I’d like to also ask you some questions about the feed, and what you may remember that may not be on the tape.”
“Okay,” Eve said, “and thank you Felix.” And she leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek.
Felix said nothing as he backed away, turned, and let himself into his room, and Eve did the same. She threw her camera bag into an armchair, kicked off her shoes, threw her cap and key card onto the nightstand and did a backflop onto the bed. She took a look around the room. Thankfully, it looked nothing like the room from her dream.
She contemplated allowing herself to drift off, but knew she would never wake up on her own in time to shower, get ready and go down to look for clothes. So, she wrestled herself up from the bed, grabbed her key card, and headed downstairs.
***************************************
The beige rotary phone on her bedside table rang, shocking Eve from her dreamless slumber. Eve groped for the receiver with the sole intent of not having to hear it again.
“Yes?” Eve croaked.
“Your wakeup call, Madame,” an annoyingly pleasant female voice responded. “Five o’clock, as you requested.”
“Okay, I’m up. I’m up.” Eve said, replacing the receiver as she said this.
Eve buried her face into her pillow. Although her shoes were off, she had not removed any of her other clothes, and she was lying on top of the covers. And she was freezing. She remembered having the foresight to turn the air conditioning up full blast so that she would be forced to get up and turn it off, which she did begrudgingly.
Eve pulled her hair, which she could now tell smelled of that stale stink of airplane fuselage, from the ponytail as she walked to the bathroom. She took inventory; bar soap, liquid body gel, shampoo, conditioner, a small toothbrush and travel size Colgate toothpaste wrapped in cellophane, a hair dryer and three fluffy, white towels. No razor, and no hair brush. And no deodorant. She was thankful that she had just shaved, and she could get by without deodorant, at least for a couple of hours. But no hair brush?
Eve called down to the front desk and asked if they had one they could bring up. The attendant said that they had some in the news store, and would have the Valet bring one up in about 20 minutes.
Eve opened the toothbrush and toothpaste, and brushed fervently twice. Then, she stripped and looked in the mirror. Her bra had indented her skin with a red line across her upper rib cage from being on so long, and she still had the bags under her eyes. She could feel a zit forming behind her ear, and she wished she had her Clinique. She pinched under her eyes a bit, hoping against hope, then started a hot shower.
The water felt good against her skin and in her hair. She washed her body, shampooed and conditioned her hair quickly, and towel dried her hair. She combed it with her fingers, and put a rubber band around it in a ponytail again.
The lobby shop, as Felix had guessed, had not had much of a clothing selection. And had absolutely no underwear. Luckily, they had two dresses in her size. The first was a dark blue and seafoam wrap-around that had a built-in belt that tied on the left side. The second was a light yellow halter top with a shell clasp at the back of the neck, the back of which was completely open down to the base of her spine, but thankfully had bra supports. The shop had one pair of flat soled sandals with small shells along the straps that looked very good with both.
Unfortunately, the blue dress looked as if it were made so that it could double as a cover up for swimming, and it had a very high slit. Without panties or a bathing suit, Eve didn’t dare. So, Eve slipped on the yellow, and resolved to face Felix as much as possible.
She was done getting ready, and still it was only 5:30. She instinctively picked up her iPhone to check her texts and emails, Facebook and Twitter, but noticed she had no reception. The twinge of aggravation of being in a spot where she wasn’t “connected” instinctively rose, but then fell as quickly as it had come. Firstly, Felix had warned her about communicating from here. And secondly, she realized that in her present situation, unnecessary distraction was not called for. She should use her time wisely, think about where she was, what she had stumbled into, and reassess who she trusted and why. Not 24 hours before, she was in a hotel room about to take a well-deserved rest before heading back to London and the flat she hadn’t seen for longer than she had ever intended, and now she was in a Caribbean paradise on the lam with an aging ex-CIA spy from one of the most powerful government agencies in the world.
Eve turned her iPhone off completely, just to be safe.
Eve sat down at the desk, pulled open the drawer and grabbed the tablet and pen inside. She felt she needed to memorialize everything she could remember about the events of the past week. She had been through a whirlwind, and she felt she needed to retrace the events so that she could put a fresh light on things, look at things objectively. Plus, she wanted to make sure she reviewed everything in her mind first so as not to say anything incorrect to Felix at dinner.
It had all started with the text from Arthur. Then the explosion, running to the hotel, the cab ride to 10th Avenue. The filming, which had been about 10 hours, was uneventful as she could remember. Then there was the call two days later to Jerry when she realized she had the actual explosion on her iPhone, Jerry’s nervous voice telling her to come down to headquarters.
There was something else, but at that moment, there was a knock on the door, and a voice on the other side called out “Valet!”
Eve rose from the desk and opened the door. And although he had a hairbrush in her hands, Eve instantly realized this wasn’t the Valet.
“Robert!?! What in…” Eve started.
But he silenced Eve with a stern glare and his forefinger to her lips. Robert, dressed I a touristy flowered shirt, Bermuda shorts and sandals, pushed his way past Eve and shut the door quietly, throwing the hairbrush onto the bed. He kept his finger to his lips, and began searching the room, inside drawers, scanning his fingers across their bottoms and sides, looking inside the lamps, darting into the bathroom and back out.
All the while, Eve followed him across the room, utter bewilderment racing through her brain. Once Robert had searched just about every nook and cranny of the room, he darted over to the desk, picked up the pen, and started writing on the pad.
“I’m in room 308,” he scrawled on the pad, then flipped the page and continued. “Don’t talk. Have dinner with him. Answer his questions. Felix is okay, we think.”
Eve nodded, but who was “We?” Her head was still spinning.
Robert flipped the page again.
“But come down to my room around 2AM. I’ll explain then.”
Robert looked into Eve’s eyes with a steely glare, a foreign, yet focused look in the face of the boy she grew up playing with after school. Eve nodded. Robert turned and started toward the door, but just then there was a knock, followed by Felix’s voice. Eve’s heart began to race as she and Robert looked at each other.
“Eve,” Felix said on the other side. “Are you ready?”
Robert darted silently into the bathroom, leaving Eve to deal with this on her own.
Eve glanced at the bed, and quickly picked up the hairbrush. She moved to the door and opened it a crack.
“Almost,” she said to Felix, who was dressed in a very sharp white linen suit and tie. “Just gotta brush my hair. Give me two minutes?”
Felix nodded, and Eve shut the door back. She went into the bathroom, and Robert was sitting on the edge of the tub.
Eve turned toward Robert, and mouthed, “What the FUCK is going on?!?”
Robert, still a look of steely resolve in her eyes, just mouthed back, “2 ‘clock!” and pointed down. Eve turned toward the mirror, brushed her hair quickly, and tied it back up in a ponytail. She left Robert sitting there, assuming he would leave after he was sure they were downstairs, grabbed her iPhone and key card, and met Felix in the small corridor outside her room.
CHAPTER 7
“I see you were able to find something nice in the shop?” Felix said as the doors to the elevator closed.
Eve barely heard him. Her mind was still preoccupied with Robert’s unexpected arrival. After a few seconds though, her wits returned to her.
“Oh…yes,” Eve said, looking down at her ensemble. “Thanks. Well, a bit more casual than you, though.”
Felix smiled and looked down. “All I had as well. But no matter. The hotel restaurant doesn’t have a dress code.”
The elevator opened, and Felix gestured for Eve to exit first, then led her past the front desk to the restaurant hostess.
“Dos?” She asked with a smile.
“Yes, and somewhere private, if possible.” Felix answered.
“I can put you on the patio,” the hostess said.
Felix looked at Eve, who nodded her approval.
“That would be fine,” Felix answered.
The hostess led them past the bar, through the restaurant, then out the door to a deserted patio. She seated them at the table furthest to the left. The plate glass window gave a full view of the restaurant and bar.
The patio was on a lush, green cliffside about 50 feet above sea level. To the right, a long, winding wooden stairway led down to a marina where about 20 small fishing boats were docked. It was still hot, but there was a slight breeze and the sun was low above the horizon.
"Well, I guess I’ll just get to it,” Felix said. “I’m sure you are still tired, and I want to get you out of this mess as soon as possible.”
“I would appreciate that,” Eve said.
“The feed really didn’t open my eyes to anything new,” Felix started. “Other than the SUVs coming into the Fed, then leaving about 30 minutes later, which is what I expected based on prior thefts. I still am at a loss for why Homeland Security is involved, if indeed that was Homeland Security trying to get to you.”
She tried to focus on Felix, but her mind kept harkening back to Robert. What was he doing here? How did he know she was here? And when had he grown up?
Eve became aware of a pause in the conversation, and she filled the air with, “Okay. Go on.”
“I put in a call to MI6, and they are as stumped as I am,” Felix continued. “I also had a call from the Federal Reserve chairman’s office, and there was a theft of gold from the Atlanta bank, just as I expected.”
Eve had always gotten along well with Robert. He and his father had moved in just two doors down from their house when Eve was about eight. Robert’s mother had died too just a couple of years before, and he and Eve had always leant on each other through the years. In fact, they had attended group grief therapy sessions together as teenagers. Eve had never felt any romantic feelings toward Robert, and she never got any indication from Robert that he felt that way toward her either. In fact, throughout most of middle and high school, each of them had consistently been in committed relationships. They even had shared a limo for their junior prom together. After both of their dates got drunk and snuck off with each other, she and Robert ended up at Waffle House until about 3AM that morning, drinking coffee and taking turns making selections on the juke box along with the limo driver.
Eve noticed another silent pause, and felt she needed to be more engaged in the conversation.
“Okay,” Eve stammered. “So, where does that put me now?”
“Well, I was hoping you could walk me through what you remember about that day,” Felix said. “From the time you saw the explosion, until you met up with me at the airport that night. Maybe something you remember will have some significance to me, even if it doesn’t to you.”
“Okay,” Eve responded, shaking Robert out of her head and concentrating.
Eve walked Felix through everything she could remember. From Arthur’s initial text, to the explosion, then to the cab ride and settling herself in that building across from the Federal Reserve Bank. Then, she relayed her conversations with Jerry and Arthur during the filming. Next, she told him about the realization that she had captured the actual explosion on her iPhone, and the quick turn when she called Jerry again and he told her to come in at the direction of HSA, and how she felt she had no alternative because the Chairman of CNC had concurred.
At this, Felix interrupted.
“Hold up one second,” Felix said. “You mean to tell me that Jerry had heard from Fred Shurner? And that he had personally weighed in on the issue?”
“Well, at least that is what Jerry said,” Eve recounted. “Is that important?”
Felix’s brow furrowed a bit. “Not sure, but it is a bit odd. Why wouldn’t he be fighting the other way? Protecting free press? But, go on.”
Then Eve recounted how she had received the text from Arthur not to go, but instead to meet up with Felix.
When she had finished, there was silence while Felix looked down at his wine glass, twirling the chardonnay in a circular motion for at least a minute.
Then, he spoke.
“Well, I am still at a loss,” he shrugged. “It seems pretty clear that the HSA doesn’t want anyone noticing those SUVs at the Federal Reserve Bank during the first response.”
Just then, their lobster bisque arrived, and they both paused the conversation to eat. Felix was lost in his thoughts, and this gave Eve more time to think about Robert.
The last time she had seen him had been at least four years ago, and then it was just at a neighborhood Christmas party. Barbara, ever the matchmaker, had always tried to pair them up. But for some reason, her father had never been very keen on the idea. But Eve had never had any romantic feelings for Robert. He was a friend. Plus, Robert had always been a bit reserved and polite, and Eve had always favored a take charge kind of man.
But tonight, something had stirred in her when he had swept into her room. He seemed more masculine in the way he took control of the situation. He had a singular focus, and his movements were so fluid and deliberate. She felt like he was in control, even if it was for just a moment.
Felix pushed his empty bowl forward, which brought Eve out of her pondering and back to questions that had been lingering in her subconscious.
“So, how long have you known Arthur?” Eve asked a bit pointedly.
“I’ve never actually met him,” Felix shrugged.
As he said this, Eve noticed a flowered shirt and Bermuda shorts sit down at the bar. Eve was careful not to register any surprise on her face, but she couldn’t help wonder to herself what in the world Robert was up to.
“Well,” said Felix, “I more know OF Arthur. In our circles, we usually know about operatives long before we meet them, if we ever do.”
Eve was getting a bit frustrated, seeing that Felix was not taking her roundabout conversation to its actual meaning.
“Felix,” Eve said, straightening up in her seat a bit, “I would imagine you know that Arthur and I are, well…involved.”
To this Felix gently nodded.
“Given that, I am sure you can imagine what a shock it was to learn that what he has been representing to me as himself has, indeed, been a bald-faced lie,” Eve continued, becoming a bit more agitated with Felix’s calm demeanor.