Lethal Liaisons (Willful Women Assassins Series) (4 page)

“'Nuf said,” he
replied with an expression of relief.

“I'm going to text
Karlee to be sure she and Carlton will be there for Easter dinner to
share in the news. If I call her, she'll surely get it out of me, but
by texting, it'll keep her guessing.”

Meanwhile, Karlee was
reflecting on her life and pondering her future. Listening to Janine
had fired-up her imagination in considering her life-path and its
possibilities. Their talk had intrigued and tantalized her. Her time
with Carlton had been nice, but lacked the excitement she craved.
With all the potential adventures and risks she might be facing, she
wondered if there could still safely be room in her days for him. She
had changed from the woman she had been and was wondering if she even
wanted to marry him anymore. Just then her cell phone beeped and she
looked down to read Kristie's incoming text message. A knowing-grin
appeared on her face as she read it.

The following days passed
quickly and the long-awaited Easter dinner evening arrived. It was
the same routine as before, with hors d'oeuvres and ice water with
lemon slices served in the library. Janine showed up with a date
named Alexei. He had a European accent and claimed to work for
Interpol, but was mysteriously evasive on specifics. Karlee and
Carlton wandered off to spend some private time on the balcony. As
before, the butler rang the dinner bell, the group moved to the
dining room, and the traditional martinis were served to everyone.
When the servants began clearing the dinner plates for the dessert to
be served, and everyone was starting to feel their liquor, Randolph
loudly tapped his fork against his glass and stood to make his
statement.

“I'm glad you all
could be here tonight, because I have an important announcement to
make.”

Aunt Bea's face lit up with
a broad smile. Uncle Reggie looked indifferent as he ordered yet
another drink. Karlee writhed with anticipation. Kristie's eyes
sparkled. Carlton looked sad, but feigned a keen interest. Janine was
distracted with Alexei.

“I've asked the love
of my life to marry me and she has graciously accepted. We will live
together in the meantime. Please stand up, sweetheart.”

They now had everyone's
attention and each called out their congratulations. Kristie proudly
showed off her large, new diamond ring. After a few rounds of toasts
to the happy couple, Carlton began tapping his fork against a glass
to share another piece of news.

“It appears this is
to be an evening of family announcements. Karlee and I have decided
that as fond as we are of one another, marriage is not the right
avenue for us. We have broken off our long engagement and agreed to
remain good friends.”

The dining room was filled
with an air of startled chatter. The liquor consumption increased
markedly. Alexei, who had barely noticed Karlee earlier, now became
interested.

The following months passed
uneventfully, then Janine got called over to London on business.
Karlee accompanied her. It was her first time in London and the first
time she had ever gotten a stamp on her passport.

Alexei resided there in a
remote, old English castle which had been updated with all the modern
conveniences, so they opted to stay with him. While Janine was away
for the day on business, Alexei and Karlee lounged about by the
Olympic-size pool.

“How does an Interpol
agent afford such an impressive lifestyle, Alexei?”

“I'm not technically
an agent, but rather more of a consultant, or an Independent
Contractor as Janine calls it. I understand you two might start
working together.”

He was a little evasive,
but she loved listening to his European accent. It reminded her of
what had initially attracted her to her ex-fiancé. Alexei
appeared to be around age forty, roughly ten years older than she,
had a James Bond physique, and a distinguished look.

“Where are you from,
Alexei?”

“Belgium originally.”

Just then two young women
in bikinis joined them from inside. They were around age twenty.

“These are my two
nieces, Claudette and Roxanne,” he informed her. “Girls,
meet Karlee.”

They smiled and nodded at
one another. Claudette slipped off her top, then took a dive into the
pool. Roxanne followed her lead.

“We Europeans are
less modest than you westerners,” explained Alexei. “Unisex
bathrooms, hostels, saunas, showers and such are prevalent all across
the continent. Please feel free to go topless if you wish. We rarely
wear swimsuits at all, but did so today so that you would not feel
uncomfortable.”

“I appreciate that,
Alexei. My sister used to be the conservative girl and me the liberal
one. Now she feels comfortable being naked in films for her agents
and I've become the shy one. She makes me feel as though I'm missing
out on a part of life sometimes.”

“Perhaps when in
Rome, do as the Romans do, Karlee, or in this case London.”

“I do feel a bit
self-conscious having you all change your normal routine on my
account,” she said, admiring his build. “Maybe you are
right.”

“Girls, girls, remove
your suits! Our guest doesn't mind,” he shouted out to them.

“I believe that makes
it your turn, Alexei,” she said, raising her sunglasses and
eying him intently.

He rose to his feet and
slipped off his trunks. Alexei was well-endowed, more so than his
loose-fitting swimsuit had let on, and he stood only inches from her
face. She moistened her lips, hesitated, then jumped into the pool
still wearing her swimsuit.

“Shy?”

“A little,” she
said.

“It is fine. Nudity
is optional, but I suspect you would love the sense of freedom it
would allow you.”

Karlee swam a few laps,
then climbed onto one of the floating rafts and watched as the two
girls rubbed tanning lotion on one another. It looked like fun. Then
she looked over at Alexei as he read a book. It was titled “Willful
Women”, and she suspected that was his preferred type of
companion.

After an hour of basking in
the sun, the girls brought out a cooler filled with ice and drinks.

“Karlee, come and get
a cold drink!” he called out to her.

She swam to the edge of the
pool, slipped off her swimsuit and pitched it over by her lounge
chair. The three of them looked on attentively as she climbed the
ladder out of the water.

Alexei smiled admiringly as
he handed her a chilled drink and watched the beads of water slide
down over the curves of her nicely-figured body. “How does it
feel?”

“Cold.”

“No, silly, I meant
being naked in front of all of us.”

“You were right,
Alexei. It feels invigorating!”

He leaned closer and
whispered, “They're not really my nieces, you know.”

“Oh?”

“I find it preferable
to introduce them that way. It raises fewer questions.”

“Like when you
introduce yourself as working for Interpol?”

“Exactly, fewer
questions. Ask me no questions, and I'll tell you no lies.”

Karlee remained discreetly
silent, wanting to ask those questions.

“Claudette and
Roxanne are my interns, my trainees. I am known as the best at what I
do, and they are eager to learn the trade. It is a mutually
beneficial arrangement. Now make yourself comfortable. Lie down on
your lounge chair and relax.”

“Girls, come over
here and rub some of that lotion on our guest.”

“Oh, no, that's okay.
I can do it,” Karlee said.

“What happened to
'when in Rome'? I insist. It's our way here. Go ahead, girls.”

The pair slowly began
gently rubbing the soothing oils over all of Karlee's pale flesh. It
was as much fun as it had appeared to be when she'd watched them
earlier from the raft. She felt both surprised and awkward as the
sensual caressing began arousing her sexually. She didn't know what
to do, so just relaxed and enjoyed it.

“What's going on
here? Indoctrinating my newbie to your special training program,
Alexei?”

It was Janine. She had just
returned from her day-trip and was clearly upset. As Karlee listened
to her ranting at Alexei in a foreign tongue, she determined that is
was an Eastern European dialect that sounded similar to German.

“Kristov has pushed
up the time table! He now says it has to be done by tomorrow night!”

“Well, that's just
not possible. I don't see how we can make that happen without
exposing ourselves to too much risk,” he responded.

She paused a moment as she
looked around the pool area. “Maybe there's a way.”

“Go on, I'm
listening.”

“What if we use the
girls?”

“They're not ready
yet. What if we use Karlee?” Alexei asked.

“She's not ready yet
either. So what do we do?”

“We cancel the
contract.”

“We can't.”

“We can; he's paid us
half up front. He's broken the terms of the agreement, so the deal is
nullified and he loses his down payment,” he added in a
dismissive manner.

“I've never walked
away from a deal in my life,” Janine declared, clearly
indicating her sense of stress.

“Sometimes it is
best. You need to be more flexible, Janine. Who else could we bring
in? It would need to be someone we can trust implicitly.”

She went to the cooler and
retrieved a drink which seemed to calm her down, then walked over and
sat next to Karlee on the edge of her lounge chair as the girls moved
away.

“I could probably
talk Randolph into helping if the money is right,” she said,
continuing to speak in the foreign language.

“Could he get here in
time?” Alexei wondered aloud, switching back to English.

“If he left right
away.”

“If Kristov agrees to
triple the fee, we will do it. That is a fair amount considering the
added personnel and risk.”

Meanwhile, Randolph and
Kristie were busy stateside practicing on the shooting range. As soon
as Kristov had agreed to the new terms, Randolph's phone rang. It
seemed like he and his sister were speaking in sibling code from what
Kris could hear. When the call concluded, he was evasive with details
but revealed that he had to catch the next flight out for London.

“Why?” his new
fiancée persisted in inquiring. She gradually got bits and
pieces out of him, learning that Alexei had at one time been an agent
for MI-6, the United Kingdom's CIA. Randolph's secret had been that
he and Janine had worked off-the-books for them as well as taking
independent contracts from some powerful European families and
special interest groups of questionable repute.

“Honeybuns, if you
and your sister and my sister are all in this together, I'm damn sure
not sitting it out! Consider it a training mission. I'll have all
three of you there covering my ass. How much safer could a risky
operation be? I already have my passport and bet I can be packed and
ready to go before you are! Should I pack my gun?”

“No gun; it would
draw unwanted attention and arouse suspicion. I'll get what I need
over there. You're not ready yet, neither is your sister. You two can
lounge around the pool together and go into the city to shop.”

They packed light and
caught the next flight out. It was late evening when they arrived at
the castle and their entire group was soon relaxing in their
swimsuits poolside with a nightcap.

Kristov had been intending
to eliminate the cell of a powerful Iranian nemesis named Feroze,
along with his group of devoted Middle Eastern followers that had all
taken up residence in the outlying areas of London. Somehow Feroze
had gotten wind of the impending attack and had decided on a
preemptive strike against Alexei.

Alexei had installed an
elaborate alarm system on the outlying grounds of the estate, and
something tripped the alarm just as a shot rang out. He dove for the
ground and a bullet grazed his forehead, shattering a nearby urn.
Everyone dashed indoors; the guests followed the others into the
basement where there was a full armory of advanced weaponry.

The interns picked up Uzis,
Randolph and Kristie snared a couple of sniper rifles from storage,
and everyone else secured several grenades and pistols along with
multiple boxes of ammunition. Alexei handed out night-vision goggles.
This wasn't the first time the castle had been attacked and they were
well prepared. It would be a night to remember as both Kristie and
Randolph headed to one of the rooftop towers. Alexei remotely
activated exterior booby-traps. To a casual observer, it would have
appeared that the swimsuit-clad group was grossly inferior compared
to the bearded, terrorist-camp-trained Islamists.

The firefight rapidly
intensified, with multiple explosions from grenades and booby-traps.
Armor-piercing gunfire punctured the windows and riddled the walls.
Each of the interns returned fire from their respective windows.

“Hey guys,”
called out Claudette over the noise of the shooting, “this
would make a great movie scene, the bikini crowd against the
well-armed terrorists!”

The fighting escalated and
one of the bullets pierced the wall and hit her squarely in the head,
splitting open her skull and killing her instantly. Alexei took a
round in his ass. A short time later, Roxanne took a fatal hit.

Kris and Randolph worked
together targeting men from a cubbyhole in the tower. “Take out
that one by the tree, honey,” Randolph requested.

Kris closed one eye as she
took aim and slowly squeezed the trigger. The bearded character fell
over. “That one was for you, Honeybuns,” she proudly
declared. “You get that fat one over by the big bush for me.”

As he took aim, one of the
terrorists lobbed a hand grenade at the tower. It missed, but
exploded close enough to cause some minor scrapes.

A moment later Randolph
fired and the fat one's head exploded. “My gift to you,
sweetheart.”