The Sexual Assistant

Chapter 8

Nadheer Abdo entered room 1407 of what used to be the Hilton Hotel of Beirut. A soft, feminine voice called out to him in Arabic.

"Nadheer, I've been waiting for you. Please come in."

Nadheer closed the door as he entered the dimly lit room. He could see Jade lying on the bed. The concierge of his hotel was correct in his description of Jade. She looked young, small, and beautiful.

"She is perfect for you," the concierge had declared. "She is a robotic sexual assistant. No one will find out, and you can do whatever you want. There is no sin if she is not human."

Nadheer found this an attractive enough proposition. He booked an hour with Jade. And, now that he could see her, he wished he had booked two hours.

"Please, make yourself comfortable," purred Jade. "I make no judgments, and what we do here, no one will ever know."

Nadheer sat on a corner of the bed and studied Jade. Her hand reached up to the lapel of the robe she was wearing. Jade pulled back the silk a few inches.

"Feel free to touch, talk, or whatever you like," she said. "You are far from home, and you do not need to feel lonely here."

Nadheer lightly touched Jade's skin beneath her neck. It was smooth and warm. He slid his hand onto her shoulder and gently squeezed. It felt so real.

"You are a miracle," Nadheer declared. He leaned in close to her neck. He breathed in through his nose and was delighted by the rich yet subtle aroma of French perfume. Jade place a hand on his shoulder and with the other hand, stroked Nadheer's hair. She smiled.

Nadheer looked a little confused. "How does this work?" he asked.

"Just relax," said Jade. "We have all the time in the world. Feel free to explore me. Ask me any question you wish. I am here for you."

Still hesitant, Nadheer slowly pulled back the robe from Jade's shoulder. He stroked her skin softly. He touched her hair. Then he began to explore in earnest: first, her breasts, then Jade's stomach, then her hips and thighs. By this point, Jade's robe was fully open. Nadheer paused.

"Surely," he said to himself, "there is no sin. Yet, she is so real."

Nadheer slowly moved Jade's legs apart. He slipped out of his clothing and climbed on top of her. Jade smiled and whispered, "Please, make yourself at home."

"Geeze," said Harrison as he monitored the interaction between Jade and Nadheer. "This guy is pretty boring."

Colonel Buffy was working on her computer keyboard, making notes about how Nadheer interacted with Jade. Without looking up, she said, "Read your bio briefings for God's sake."

"Why?" asked Harris as he turned down the volume on his headsets.

"His full name is Nadheer Abdo Abd al-Yasu," Buffy responded.

"So what?"

"Abd al-Yasu means servant of Jesus, you moron."

Harris looked genuinely surprised. "He's a Christian?"

"Secretly, of course," responded Buffy. "He faces death if anyone finds out he converted."

"I'll repeat," stated Harris, "geeze!"

Without reacting, or even looking at Harris, Buffy continued. "He's a lonely man. He has tried several hookers in town, but he could never go through with anything. We are using Jade to free his guilty mind and eventually get information out of him."

Harris looked at the video monitor feed from Jade's implanted eye camera. "Looks like he's not running away from this one."

"Pig," declared Buffy.

"Him or me?" asked Harris.

"Both," declared Buffy.

#

Barnett Lay sat behind his desk with a yardstick and a set of salt and pepper shakers. Every inch of the yardstick represented one month in time. The salt shaker represented Colonel Buffy. Sargent Neil was the pepper shaker. Wendy sat on the opposite side of the desk relating the relationship between the two former soldiers.

"Then Neil had his accident," she reported.

Barnett tipped over the pepper shaker. Then he continued to move salt and pepper forward one inch as a time. "May, June, July," he called out as each move was made.

"Around then, they tried to reconnect," Wendy said.

Barnett paused and thought about the timing. "Go on," he prompted.

"Now Buffy gets shot," she said. "Six months to recover."

Barnett moved the shakers another six inches. He looked at the situation again. "Hmm," is all he said.

"Neil was discharged seven months before this, and Buffy gets her papers right about there," said Wendy as she pointed to the 27-inch mark.

Barnett moved the shakers forward again, counting out the months. "And that," he said, "is where we hired Buffy." He paused to think for a moment. Then he asked, "Do we know when they reconnected?"

"Two months ago," reported Wendy. Barnett knew that Wendy kept track of everyone's personal life, whether they wanted her to do so or not. Therefore, most of the information she had was likely to be accurate.

Barnett looked at the final position of the shakers for a few moments. Wendy waited for his reaction. Suddenly he declared, "that's it!"

"What?" asked Wendy.

"That's the key to all of this," Barnett replied. "I can design a solution, but I need to make a couple of phone calls first."

"Who are you calling?" she asked, but Barnett was waving her away. There was work to be done.

#

A week later and Nadheer had visited Jade every day. The intelligence team decided that now was a good time to start probing for information from Nadheer. Colonel Buffy had outlined the interaction model for the couple. The team's psychologist suggested they use Nadheer's protective nature to provoke a response. The team had a plan. And, like all great plans, it failed before it even got started.

"Someone just unplugged Jade," reported Harris.

The team looked up from their meeting to stare at Harris, sitting across the room, monitoring Jade's vital signs. They hesitated for just a second before jumping back to their work stations.

"She's on the move," reported the tracking officer. "Fairly slow, but still moving."

"Video went dark, and audio is just some rustling sounds," announced Buffy.

"Nadheer was in the room when this started," said Harris. "I think the son-of-a-bitch is kidnapping her."

Again, the team turned as one to stare at Harris for a moment. Then they went back to work.

"Can we intercept her?" asked Harris.

"We don't have the resources," responded Buffy. "Unless you want to call a cab."

"Any vertical motion?" Harris asked.

"Yes," responded the tracking officer. "About the speed of an elevator."

"I bet he shoved her in a suitcase," responded Harris. "Let's see if he is leaving town or just heading back to his place."

The team watched the tracking position moving out of the hotel. When it turned to the left, they breathed a sigh of relief. Nadheer was heading in the direction of his hotel. To be sure, they continued to watch the blip move two blocks and then rise in the vertical direction. Jade was heading to a new home.

#

Inside Yemen, several men took up residence on the second floor of building in a small village near the capital of Sana'a. Their weapons were stacked neatly in the corner of the room. Several laptop computers were powered up. Tomorrow, more men would come. It was time to assemble the team and brief them on their mission.