“Is that what I am?”
She got up suddenly, her glorious bare body standing over him while he remained on her floor mattress. She held out a hand. “Come on.”
She grabbed the sheet from the bed and a water bottle from the refrigerator. A few moments later they were sitting on chairs on her balcony.
It was a private overhang. No one could see them. Chase could just barely make out the outline of waves crashing against the shore. They sat there, drinking water in silence and looking out at the stars.
She said, “Why’d he bring you here?”
“Elliot?”
“Yes.”
Chase looked at her. “A special project.”
“I know about the leak.”
He didn’t say anything.
“Did he tell you not to talk to me about it?”
He felt an uneasiness come over him. A conflict of interest. He already had a pretty big one of those to worry about with his brother.
Chase said, “I’m not supposed to talk about what I’m working on.”
“I won’t place you in the horrible position of answering the girl you were just sleeping with whether you trust her or not.” She wasn’t smiling.
“I appreciate that.”
She said, “Elliot didn’t turn off the cameras in the consulate interview room. One of my subordinates reviews all of the interviews that take place there. He brought the one with Gorji’s assistant to my attention.”
“Why didn’t you tell Elliot?”
“He probably already knows that I know. But everyone must follow the process, right? He’s following procedures. He can’t talk to anyone about it who works in Dubai Station until counterespionage clears them. Tomorrow or the next day I’ll be cleared and he’ll brief me on everything. Then maybe I’ll come to your closed-door meetings.”
She winked. Her feet were perched up on the small glass coffee table. The sheet that she was using to cover herself fell a bit to reveal one of her long, toned legs.
“So then what do you think I’m doing here?”
“I’m not completely sure. But if I were him, I would need immediate help with any operations related to the leak. Or to Iran.”
“Isn’t that everything?”
“He can’t shut all of the operations down. Procedure says that he is to only isolate the operations that are directly compromised by the leak. Therefore, my money says that Elliot’s got you working with the Iranian — Gorji’s guy — to find out what information he’s got and what he wants for it. Blink twice if I’m close.”
He smiled. She was too smart. A thought occurred to him. “Is this why you took me here? To ask me about this?”
She feigned a look of hurt. “You couldn’t really believe that.”
“I don’t.”
She smiled. “Oh, alright, my dear. I’ll quit pumping you for information.”
Then she rose up and walked over to him, the white sheets falling down to the floor. She climbed on top of him, not saying a word. He felt her hands caress the back of his neck.
She whispered, “Well… maybe a just bit more…”
Chapter 6
Chase opened his eyes to the sound of Lisa grunting nearby. A black pull-up bar was fastened to her closet door. She was cranking out sets of pull-ups. A lot of them. She changed grips every few seconds, swaying, and then starting up again. Her back muscles were very well defined. She wore only a black sports bra and tight runner’s shorts. Not the type of outfit that she could get away with if she was to go outside on the streets of Dubai.
He got out from under the covers of her bed and found his clothes strewn about the floor. He grabbed them and headed towards the bathroom. He threw the shower on and found a disposable razor in one of her sink drawers.
“You got any shaving cream?”
“It’s under the sink,” Lisa replied, all business. She was on to a set of pushups. She didn’t look up at him.
Steam fogged up the mirror. He wiped it away with his hand. He shaved and showered, wondering if she was going to join him. She didn’t.
He got out of the shower, dried off, and got dressed in the clothes he had arrived in. He checked his watch. The Truman should be moored by now. It was supposed to reach the pier at dawn.
Chase walked into the bedroom. Lisa held her body in some sort of plank yoga move on the floor. She watched him as he walked up to her. He said, “I’m going to get going.”
“Would you like a ride? I’m almost finished.” No hint of emotion in her voice. She was like a machine.
“No, that’s alright. I’m going to just grab a cab. I was actually going to run an errand before heading back to the hotel.”
“Alright. I’ll see you later, then.”
No kiss. No embrace. Chase had no clue how to treat this. He had never met a woman that had been this detached the morning after. “Okay. Thanks.” He walked out the front door and took the elevator to the bottom floor.
He headed out of the lobby of the residential high-rise and into the sweltering heat of the city. There was a coffee shop across the street. He ordered a cup of black coffee with two sugars and picked up an English-language version of a newspaper called the Khaleej Times.
He flagged a cab and hopped in. Another black Lexus taxi. They were everywhere.
The driver spoke very little English, but Chase was able to convey that he wanted to go to “Jebel Ali… to the Navy ships.” The driver nodded and they started off. Chase scanned the headlines of the newspaper and sipped his coffee as they drove.
The articles were mostly about the Dubai Financial Summit.
Monumental agreements with Iran and UAE pave way for new financial exchange, read one headline.
Another story raved about this new politician Iran had sent over to broker the deal. A key paragraph in the story read:
Mr. Gorji’s progressive politics would normally be hammered down by members of the Iranian regime. But experts credit his marriage to a favored niece of the Iranian Supreme Leader for supercharging his political stock. Some are even suggesting that he may be a presidential hopeful in the next Iranian election. Whatever the case, he has certainly shown the cunning and charm needed to bring together the leaders of the Gulf Nations in this monumental financial summit. One can only hope that this will lead to further peace and trade between nations that have traditionally been at odds.
There was nothing yet about China moving to bitcoin reserves for the yuan.
The cab turned into the port of Jebel Ali. It was bustling with activity. Through the windows, Chase could see stacks and stacks of containers. The containers were being craned onto the large commercial vessels. There were countless ships. Merchants, oil tankers, automobile transports, and natural gas tankers were in various stages of the transportation cycle. Jebel Ali was the largest man-made harbor on earth, and one of the top ten busiest ports on the planet.
They arrived at a ship unlike any other on the pier. The USS Harry S. Truman, one of ten active American nuclear aircraft carriers. The Truman was a supercarrier, over one thousand feet long, almost as wide as a football field, and as tall as a twenty-four-story building. It towered over the pier, casting a shadow over the many sailors and port logistics contractors that were scurrying below.
Chase paid the cab driver and gave him a generous tip. He marched toward the security gate.
As he walked, Chase could see many of the ninety aircraft in the carrier’s complement. Some were packed in like sardines on the hangar deck, which was visible through a series of mammoth openings in its hull. The rest were lined up neatly on the flight deck overhead. Rows of F/A-18 Hornets, E-2C Hawkeyes, and MH-60 Seahawk helicopters. Many of these aircraft had a set of enlisted maintainers crawling on top of them. These men and women conducted the crucial maintenance needed to keep them flying in the harsh salt air of the Arabian Gulf.