Twenty-Nine Cozy Bears

44

Doug and Samantha : Tehran, Iran

They were on their way back from making the last of the marks on the schedule, when Doug thought he spotted the Major. The 29th Cozy. The hacker's hacker. For a brief moment the man looked familiar, but when Doug managed to get an unobstructed view, he didn't recognize him at all.

"Maybe he's had surgery. Altered his face," Samantha offered.

"Maybe," Doug agreed. It would explain why he looked familiar in glimpses, and not in full. The bone structure of his face is the same, but the muscles and skin have been altered. "No way to test that theory."

Halfway back home he believed the same man was following them, but then he turned down another street. After that Doug didn't spot him or anyone else tailing them for the rest of their journey. Just in case, they took their time and went around several blocks to see if they could catch a tail — but discovered nothing.

Once back in their rented flat, they took a shower together and relaxed in the living area, eating sugared dates and oranges. Samantha lay on the carpets and cushions naked, but for her hijab.

"Is it weird that I really like you in your hijab?" he asked her, while allowing himself the enjoyment of her young and attractive curves.

"I don't think it is weird," she said. "I once heard that if you wished to make a woman more attractive, hide a part of her."

"Maybe it is that effect which is happening," Doug said, though he didn't sound convinced. "But I think it is the hijab, and the exoticness of it to me."

"I would rather wear hijab than a G-string in the crack of my ass," she asserted.

They finished making the last of the marks, which meant that the Mossad should be contacting them by tomorrow evening at the latest.

Sara rolled over on her belly and came up on her elbows, "We thinking tomorrow? Yes?"

He smiled, having been in the same mental area, "By tomorrow evening or we jump on a plane the next morning."

"Got it boss," she said with a grin.

"Don't call me that," he said, an awkwardness in his voice.

"What?" Samantha asked, "and ruin the fantasy I get off on the most? Fucking my boss so he'll take me around the world? Fuck that."

He was sitting with his legs crossed. But now he leaned back against the plaster wall, and relaxed his neck letting his chin drop down with the weight of his head.

"Hey," Samantha said, lifting up to sit on her hip with her legs bent together. "I was just in a good mood. What's going on?"

He shifted his butt and then looked up to her, "You know why I'm the boss and you are not?"

The gaiety in her eyes calmed into a business expression of interest. "Why?"

"I'm glad you've thought about it. I mean, you had to, right? You're just as good as I am in analysis, maybe a bit better at detection."

She didn't look away, but she didn't offer any comment.

"The reason is, I showed up ten days before you. If I had come in later, if our days had been switched, I'd be the one fucking my boss." He reached forward and took one of the lamb kababs they brought back with them. "Anyway, that's what I think about every time you call me boss — but for a ten day space, it would be you in the driver's seat."

Her expression relaxed and her eyes turned thoughtful. Then she grinned and shook her head with slow motions, "You believe that, don't you? That's kind of cute, really. Sure, you and I have similar skill levels. But if I came in first, they would have marked me as hired, but would have waited for you to show up before telling me. " She paused and then added, "You or someone like you."

Doug couldn't help his head tilting to the left, "Really? You think they wouldn't see you are boss material?"

"I know they wouldn't" she said, her voice open and accepting. "It is just the way life works when you're a fuckable young woman."

"All men are pigs, huh?" Doug said, his grin turning a little sardonic.

"No, it's not that." she said. "Every time your superiors watch your ass as you leave a room, you are that much further from a position of authority. Men don't think of fuckable women as bosses or superiors. They will make supervisors, and even project leads, perhaps even make manager some day, but that day will be long in coming."

Doug sighed and couldn't help the frown on his lips.

"Stop it," she told him. "I'm a big girl and can deal with the world as it is. And I've never felt abused by you. Not once. Not even after anal."

Doug didn't respond at first, and they simply sat in silence together listening to the world move around them.

"You should get your clothes on," he said after some time.

"Huh?"

"We know they will show up tomorrow evening, at the latest. We have no clue when the soonest might arrive."