Suggestions and constructive criticism are welcome; vitriol is not. Encouraging words and a pat on the back are more than welcome. That having been said, read on and let me know what you think. sageamante@yahoo.com
WHERE EAGLES FLY
Copyright © Saggio Amante 2003, 2004
All rights reserved.
Parallax - Part 14
The electric winch lowered the small lifeboat containing the three men into the ocean. Max and Tony sat in the front while the other man unhooked the winch cables, started the motor, and headed toward shore.
"Take it over by that cigarette boat on the beach, Pete," Tony yelled. The man, who a short while before had been piloting the big yacht, now turned his attention to the small lifeboat.
"Why did you wait until now to tell me, Tony?" Max asked.
"Because my daughter asked me to. It's as simple as that." Tony said. "We'll talk about this later."
Max looked back at the large yacht anchored offshore. He was elated that his partner was alive, but he was angry because she didn't trust him enough to tell him.
'I'm probably not as pissed as a little blonde I know,' Max chuckled to himself.
The small boat pulled into the beach, and Pete jumped out to drag it up onto the sand next to a metallic blue cigarette boat. A tall, dark-haired man strode down from the upper reaches of the beach.
"Hey, Dominic," Tony yelled. "Take Pete back to Miami with you. I'll take care of things here. I'll see you in a couple of days."
"You got it, boss," Dominic replied.
Tony waited until Dominic and Pete climbed into the cigarette boat and pulled away from the shore. "Come on, Max. Let's go."
Max followed Tony up over a dune and saw the small Lear Jet parked on a small landing strip there. He had expected to return to the yacht with Tony after giving the women some time alone and was surprised at what he saw.
"What the hell?" He looked quizzically at Tony.
"Yeah, Terry uh Lark landed it here," Tony said. "I picked her up yesterday."
"But the N-number will be a dead give-away that she didn't crash," Max said.
"Nah, Dominic took care of that. Look at it."
Max looked at the tail of the plane. He had memorized Lark's N-number when he thought she had crashed. The N-number on this plane was not the same.
"Dominic's an artist, ain't he?" Tony laughed, lapsing into his mafia don vernacular. "Looks pretty good, don't it?"
Max smiled weakly. "Yeah, Tony, he's a real artist. So who's gonna fly this thing?"
"What do you mean, who? Who do you think taught Lark to fly?" Tony held his arm out in front of him, inviting Max to enter the plane. "After you, Agent."
Max took a deep breath and ascended the steps to the plane. At the top, he turned and looked once again at the yacht anchored in the harbor.
"Bet you'd like to be a fly on that wall, wouldn't you Max?" Tony laughed.
"No, I think I'd like to be as far from those fireworks as possible," Max responded.
"Take a seat in the cockpit," Tony said. "You can fly second seat."
"I don't fly, Tony."
"Don't be a smart ass. You can keep me company," Antonelli sneered.
Tony did a pre-flight check and then joined Max in the cockpit. The take-off was smooth, and Max was impressed with Antonelli's obvious comfort in piloting the plane. Tony headed toward Miami, then banked, and turned.
Max's heart jumped in his chest. "Where the hell are you going, Tony? Florida is that way," he said, pointing in the opposite direction.
Antonelli chuckled. "Hey, the paint job isn't that good. We're gonna take a little jaunt to Cuba and exchange this thing for a new plane. There's a dealer there who's a friend of mine. He owes me a big favor; it's time to collect."
"You can't be serious," Max shouted.
"As serious as a heart attack, buddy," Tony laughed, tipping the small plane's wings at the yacht below, then heading out to sea.
*~*~*~*
"Why?" Lonnie asked as she cuddled in Lark's arms breathing in the musky scent of her lover. She circled her fingers around the areola of Lark's breast and smiled as she felt the nipple harden under her touch. Lonnie flattened her hand and moved it slowly down the length of Lark's body as far as her arm could reach, then brought it back up again, her fingers feathering lightly against Lark's pale skin.
Lark gently slipped her arms from around Lonnie and sat up.
"Come with me," Lark said quietly, helping Lonnie to her feet.
Lark led Lonnie down a long hallway into an ornate bedroom. She lifted the smaller woman in her arms, placed her on the bed, and climbed in beside her. Lark shifted her body, then held out her arms, waiting patiently for Lonnie to settle into them.
"Why?" Lonnie repeated, laying her head against Lark's shoulder. "And how?"
Lark pulled Lonnie closer, stroking her hair then letting her fingers drift down in soft circles over Lonnie's shoulders and back.
"It all happened so quickly," Lark said. "I never had time to think about the consequences of my actions. I just acted. God, Lonnie, I never meant to hurt you."
"I believe that; but you did, and you still haven't answered my questions."
"I know. I know. Just give me a minute."
Lark took a deep breath. "I saw the small plane come in under me and then take a nose-dive. I could hear air traffic control and the transmissions of the other aircraft. Apparently, the pilot was not transmitting. I never heard him ask for permission to land. "
"When I saw the plane go down and heard the explosion, I knew that there would be a certain amount of controlled confusion at ATC. Everyone would be busy with that emergency and re-routing traffic; they probably wouldn't even notice me if I moved out of the glide path and headed away from the airport instead of toward it. Up until then the other pilot and I had only been a blips on the screen. I had already asked for permission to land and hoped against hope that the air traffic controller would assume I was the one who crashed."
"I remember thinking, 'it's now or never.' I banked and flew as low as I could out toward the ocean; then I descended even lower until I was sure I was under the scope of the radar. After that, it was easy. I flew directly to Alcestis. I called my father from there."
"But you didn't call me," Lonnie said, and Lark couldn't miss the hurt in her voice.
"No, I didn't call you." Lark paused to kiss the top of the blonde head lying on her shoulder. She shivered involuntarily as Lonnie stroked her, reveling in the touch she loved so much.
"That answers the 'how'," Lonnie said as she continued rubbing her hand up and down Lark's body, "but not the whys? Why did you do this? Why didn't you let me know you were alive? Why did you put me through those god awful days of not knowing and the pain of your funeral?"
Lark sighed. "I've had an idea germinating in my mind for a while. The crash simply amplified it. I had to take advantage of a perfect opportunity."
"I don't understand." Lonnie stopped the movement of her hand and let it rest gently on Lark's breast.
"I went to Washington to confront the Director," Lark began. "Someone bugged my condo and Meriam's. You know that. What you don't know is that it was done by agents from the Washington office of the FBI."
Taking a deep breath, Lark continued. "Sam tried to pass it off as rogue agents and promised to get to the bottom of it, but my gut instincts tell me there's more to it than that. There's something Sam's not telling me."
"Then there are the attempts on your life. The first time - at the courthouse - I could understand how they got to you on that one and even the one at Meriam's? But the attempt at the hospital? How did the guy get through the hospital and into the room undetected? There were agents all over the place. Hell, how did he know you were there or what room you were in? He certainly wasn't tipped by the presence of a cop at the door. The cop wasn't in uniform and wasn't even at the door, so the guy must have known exactly where he was going. He couldn't have found out through hospital records because there were no public records of you or me being in that room. It doesn't make sense."
Lark paused, rolling the events over in her mind. "And the word on the street is that Dansky didn't order the hit on you. But if he didn't, who did? The FBI? That makes even less sense."
"Go on," Lonnie said huskily as she grasped Lark's nipple and began to roll it between her thumb and forefinger.
Lark gasped. "If you keep that up, I'll never get through this."
Lonnie laughed softly. "I'm still listening," she said as she stopped her hand movement momentarily, then trailed her hand slowly down the front of Lark's body and brought it to rest, cupping her mons. Lonnie slipped her fingers inside Lark's labia and laid it against her clitoris, rhythmically stroking the hardening member. It took all of Lark's self-control not to arch against the intruding hand and fingers.
Lark placed her hand over Lonnie's entrapping it. "Stop it!" Lark said. "You asked the questions. You deserve the answers. I want to get through this; I don't want to leave anything unanswered in your mind."
Lying there naked with Lark, touching her soft skin, and feeling the sticky wetness that erupted between Lark's legs had kicked Lonnie's libido into high gear. She was overcome with desire for the beautiful woman beside her, and Lonnie knew that whatever the answers to her questions were, they could wait a little while longer. For now, all she wanted was to feel her lover - to know that she was real and alive.
"I want the answers ... all of them but later," Lonnie replied, turning her head to run the flat of her tongue over Lark's breasts. "I've missed you this ... us. I thought you were dead. I want I need to make love to you. I need to feel you alive, under my hands. Please, we have time; we can finish talking later. "
The dark-haired woman didn't say anything. She simply loosened her hold on the small hand between her legs, then began to move Lonnie's hand with her own, showing her lover exactly where and how she wanted to be touched.
"There ... like that ... yes, baby, yes!" Lark whispered.
Lonnie followed Lark's movements, stroking her lover in long firm strokes, then circling her clitoris - first on one side, then the other, touching and teasing a small spot at the base of the clitoris, setting Lark's nerves on edge but not quite bringing her to orgasm. The feeling between her legs was surreal, and Lark gasped with pleasure.
Lark removed her hand from Lonnie's and threw her arms up over her head, grabbing the headboard. She opened her legs wider to give Lonnie better access. Lark stilled the thoughts tumbling through her mind and focused on the exquisite sensations caused by the demanding mouth and hands of the small blonde making love to her.
Lonnie placed her lips on Lark's breast and sucked it deeply into her mouth, circling the hardened nipple with the tip of her tongue and wetting the pebbled skin of the areola. Lifting her head, Lonnie blew against Lark's breast causing the tall woman to shiver with delight at the contrast of the cool air as it replaced Lonnie's hot mouth.
"Oh god, you make me so hot!" Lark cried as Lonnie licked and nibbled at her skin. Every time Lonnie bit or suckled, Lark felt surges of electricity bursting down her spine into her wet, throbbing vagina. She arched her back and pushed her breast deeper into Lonnie's mouth.
"Harder, baby, harder," Lark gasped. She felt her center contracting and expanding rapidly, almost but not quite reaching the orgasm she so desperately desired.
"Oh Jesus, yes!" Lark moaned as Lonnie began to alternately suck and bite the tender tissue of her breasts while at the same time increasing the pressure and tempo of her hand between Lark's legs.
The sounds of her lover's moans caused bursts of spasms in Lonnie's core. She slipped a leg over Lark's thigh and felt her own slick wetness coat it as Lark bent her knee and pressed her thigh against Lonnie's center.
Lark removed her hands from the headboard and reached down to grasp the muscles of Lonnie's ass. Her hands cupped the soft mounds, and she pulled the smaller woman hard against her.
"I want you to come with me," Lark gasped hoarsely, her words sending shockwaves through Lonnie's burning body.
Lark began to rotate her hips and push her thigh harder and harder against the smaller woman. She stopped a moment and slid her hand into the space between her thigh and its contact with Lonnie. She spread the blonde's labia until she could make direct contact with her clitoris, then removed her hand and leveraged her thigh against the smaller woman's clit. Lark could feel the hardness of the small, swollen bud of her lover pressing against the naked skin of her thigh.
"Come for me, baby," Lonnie cried, plunging her fingers into Lark's wet center and pumping hard against bulb of her clitoris.
Lark grabbed Lonnie's wrist, forcing Lonnie's fingers deeper into her, then she pulled Lonnie to her and arched her back until there was no room at all between them.
The two women thrust against each other, echoing their mutual need in a perfect dance of passion, until they exploded together in volcanic release.
*~*~*~*