She found she was coming to like this quiet German girl. She had a sense of humour and a sense of honour. She was not arrogant, as many Germans were; even Nadia had been to a point. It was her quiet resigned humility that really attracted her. She thought that Luis would fall in love with her at first sight.
Luis only ever fell in lust. His idea of love was sexual from the outset and Maria was actually reluctant to expose this unfortunate creature to her cousin’s excessive sexual appetite.
She knew that Luis was certainly in mourning at the moment and so she would be safe for a few days and who knows? She might be gone by the time his sexual urges returned.
They saw the large black hearse arrive outside the morgue and walked across to meet it. A supercilious young man in a dark suit wrung his hands and oozed insincere sympathy.
Michelle handed over the paperwork. His assistants simply brought out a wooden coffin from the back of the hearse and went into the morgue.
“I have already arranged a flight to the island. The hearse will go directly to the airport,” Maria explained.
Michelle smiled and nodded. She glanced down the street and saw the telephone company truck was moving out. The DEA knew where the aircraft was and were going to make for the vicinity.
“Do you have a car?” Maria asked.
“No, I came by cab.”
“Then I’ll give you a ride. I always rent a car at the airport.”
The two of them walked back to the hotel, collected their luggage and checked out. Maria opened her car and Michelle placed her case in the trunk. Maria opened her shoulder bag and took out a packet of cigarettes. She selected one and put it into her mouth, holding the packet out for Michelle.
“Nein, danke. Ich rauche Zigaretten nicht,” she said and smiled apologetically.
Maria held up her hand, and lit her cigarette with a lighter. She drew the smoke deep into her lungs and exhaled savouring the taste of the smoke.
“Its okay, I understand. Nadia was the same, as she kept forgetting which language she was speaking. How many languages do you speak?”
“German, English, Dutch, French and a little bit of Spanish and Italian.” Michelle replied, quite truthfully.
“Wow. I get by in Italian, but I only speak Spanish and English really.”
“Where I come from, you have to learn English. I lived in the Netherlands for a while. I had a French friend and worked in an Italian restaurant, waiting at tables. I have done some singing here in Florida and so Spanish is spoken quite a bit.”
“What beats me is that the Americans get so superior to us foreigners, and yet most of them can hardly speak English,” Maria said.
“The English are the same. They can’t understand why the world can’t all speak English,” Michelle said and both women laughed.
“The way the world is going, it will soon!” said Maria.
The hearse was loaded with its sad cargo and the greasy penguin came over to where they were standing.
“Are you going to follow us?” he asked.
“No. We’ll meet you on stand A43 at the airport,” Maria said and he smiled slightly and nodded.
The women got into the car and Maria took off, the hearse was some distance behind them.
A little way behind the hearse was another plain blue sedan.
Ryan turned to Sean.
“Do you reckon she’ll be okay?” he asked.
Sean shook his head.
“Who knows? But she's the best chance we have,” he replied. Then he frowned and turned to the younger man.
Ryan looked worried.
“Are you okay?” Sean asked.
Ryan smiled.
“Yeah, I just feel a bit guilty. I mean, she's completely untrained and ill prepared for this shit.”
“You like her?”
Ryan smiled and reddened slightly. “Yeah, I do. She has more guts than anyone else I know and no matter how much I remind myself that she is really a male, I still can’t help but see her as a beautiful girl.”
It was Sean’s turn to smile.
“Well, keep your comments and attraction to yourself. You’ll never live it down if it gets out you find her attractive.”
Instead of treating it as a joke, Ryan frowned.
“To be honest, she is probably too goddamn good for me,” he said and stared into the distance.
Sean’s eyebrows were raised in surprise.
“What?”
“Think about it. She has been through twice as much shit as anyone should ever face in their life and she is only in her early twenties. She looks fantastic and is still a nice person. Most women who look like that are so goddamn arrogant to make normal human interaction impossible.”
“So, you really do like her?”
“Shit Sean, I don’t know. I just know that we so shouldn’t be throwing her into this with Mendoza, it just isn’t right.”
“I agree, but she could have backed out, and didn’t.”
“Yeah, for what? A lousy green card and the opportunity to go through some shitty operation just to live a normal life that everyone else takes for granted?”
“Not just a green card. The Director agreed that when she comes out she will be granted automatic U.S. citizenship.”
“When? Don’t you mean ‘if’? This goddamn operation has cost five fucking experts their lives, how the hell can we expect her to succeed when they failed?”
Sean smiled.
“Something tells me she is a survivor.”
“I fucking hope and pray she is. She’s gonna need to be to get out of this mess,” Ryan said and Sean glanced at the younger man.
He drove in silence, but was worried that Ryan was taking this a little personally. Still, she was very attractive.
Ryan, on the other hand, was confused.
Sean had hit the nail right on the head. Michelle attracted him, and he knew with his head he was being completely stupid, but he could not get her out of his mind.
After she had told him that she could tell that he cared by his eyes, he had spent ages looking at his own reflection trying to see what she saw. Her smile tantalised and teased him and he knew he was becoming besotted by her. He knew what was happening. He knew it was useless and completely irrational, but he could not seem to help himself.
No matter how hard he tried to look at this logically, all he saw was her sad smile and his heart melted.
Ryan Hobbs had fallen in love!
The Lear jet was waiting on the stand with the front door/steps lowered. The pilot was exchanging an amusing anecdote with one of the officials as the two women arrived. A small mini bus dropped them off, so Maria and Michelle walked the fifty yards in the hot sun towards the plane.
Manuel, the pilot, nodded at Maria and she smiled at him. They had been lovers for a while, but had to be discreet as Manuel was married and had four children.
Manuel looked at the other girl and liked what he saw. She was tall and had a very fine figure, as the swell of her ample and firm breasts stretched the fabric of her blouse, moving with her as she walked. He could see the lace outline of her bra through the thin fabric and her nipples protruding slightly. She had removed her white jacket and it was slung over one shoulder. Her white hat was low over her eyes.
Manuel felt stirring from his trouser department so he forced himself to look away.
Moments later the hearse arrived, so the coffin was transferred to the plane. A Customs Officer approached, glanced at the paperwork and signed the release form. Michelle then was ushered onto the plane and took her seat. The interior of the jet was really luxurious, so she smiled at the thought of her instantly living a jetsetter’s lifestyle.
Michelle looked out of the window, knowing now she was truly on her own. She looked down as the plane took off and was amazed at how calm she felt.
No, it wasn’t calmness - it was excitement.
For the first time in her rather unhappy life she was doing something for others and it was exciting. She smiled and thought of Ryan.