This is the sequel to "The Samaritan", and the plot thickens (you'll really have to read "The Samaritan" first.)
Cautionary: straight sex only, kinky sex, including anal play; this isn't as 'sweet' as The Samaritan...
Setting: Europe, Contemporary.
Characters:
Michael, male, 33 years old, male lead
Natasha, female, 23 years old, female lead
Mischka, female, 3 years old, Natasha's daughter
Dusek, male, 25 years old, Natasha's partner, deceased
Nicky, female, 30 years old, Michael's ex
Peter, male, 33 years old, Michael's enemy
Tom, male, 32 years old, Michael's friend
Note to the reader: I welcome feedback, but (especially) if you have something negative to say, please substantiate your comment.
The Pawn
Sequel to The Samaritan
Part One
It's a beautiful spring day as Michael enters Batavia; the restaurant is his favorite place to have lunch at when he's in Utrecht for his monthly visit to his company's HQ. After entering he immediately notices Tom is already sitting at their usual corner table. Tom is a former colleague and an old friend who, unlike he himself, works in Utrecht permanently. They always use the occasion of his monthly visit to HQ to meet up again.
The Indo girl behind the bar waves at him, smiling, he's a familiar face and she knows he's here to have lunch with Tom. Walking over towards where Tom is sitting he inhales the restaurant's familiar atmosphere; the traditional dark woodcarvings adorning the walls, the smell of Indonesian food, and the soft Krontjong music. "Hi Michael," Tom greets him from behind a glass of beer.
"Long time no see, Tom" he replies. Tom had missed their previous meeting due to some emergency at work last month. He takes off his jacket and drops it over the back of a chair, then sits himself down on the chair next to it, opposite Tom.
He has barely sat himself down when the girl shows up with the menus, "Would you like something to drink?" she asks him, while handing them the menus.
He points at Tom's beer, "A Bintang for me too please," he winks at her, "and have one yourself too."
The girl smiles, "Well thank you sir!" then hurries back towards the bar.
When he looks back at Tom again his friend is clearly studying him, then looks quizzically. He raises his eyebrows, "What?"
Tom grins, "What's her name?"
He plays innocent, "What do you mean?"
Tom chuckles, "Fuck man, you've been depressed for ages, and now you just shine, so who's the lucky girl?"
He chuckles, raising his hands in surrender, "Alright, you got me, her name's Natasha."
Tom smiles, "I knew it!" then raises his glass and toasts him.
Michael grins, "Actually, it's two girls, I now have a Mischka too..."
Tom almost chokes on his beer, "Come again?"
He chuckles, "Natasha has a daughter, she's just three years old, and cute as a button."
A beer gets planted down on the table in front of him, and when he looks up the waitress smiles at him, then winks, "Good for you, sir." She gets out her notepad, "Have you decided already?" He hasn't opened the menu yet, but he knows what he wants, looks questioningly at Tom, who nods back at him.
He smiles at the girl, "For me the SatΓ© Kambing, with some Ketan rice please."
"And for me the Martabak Telor, with Atjar Ketimoen," Tom chimes in.
The waitress writes the order down, "Thank you gentlemen," she picks up the menus, turns and leaves again.
Tom sits himself back, raising his eyebrows, "This is serious isn't it?"
He nods, smiling, "Yeah, hook line and sinker, I'm done for..."
Tom smiles, "Congrats man, I'm so happy for you." Then he looks thoughtful, "Names sound eastern European."
Michael nods, "Yes, they're from Slovakia."
"Oh, that's a beautiful country. How old is she?"
Michael grins, "Twenty three..."
Tom winks, "You scoundrel... Don't tell me she's as good looking as Nicky is."
He gets out his phone, looks up an image of Natasha, then shows Tom.
His eyes widen, "Holy fuck..."
He grins, "Nicky is a beautiful woman, but she can't hold a candle to her, and that goes for both the outside and the inside, especially the inside."
Tom sighs, "Yeah, it really sucked what Nicky did to you."
He nods, "You don't know the half of it."
Tom shakes his head, "I had never thought..," he sighs again, "I can tell you know, I suppose, I have always had feelings for Nicky." Michael raises his eyebrows, Tom raises his hands, "I have never... She was yours. I have always respected that."
Michael shakes his head, "That really sucks man, for you I mean."
Tom shrugs, "Do you know she's going to marry that fucker she cheated on you with?"
His face darkens, "Yeah, she sent me an invitation..."
Tom's eyebrows rise, "Why the fuck would she do that?"
Michael shrugs, "Not because she wants for me to turn up at her wedding anyway."
Tom winces, "That's just mean man, I never thought... What a bitch." He nods, Tom shakes his head, "Enough about Nicky, now tell me how you caught that Slovakian angel of yours." He knows he can trust Tom, so he tells him the entire story. How she and her boyfriend had ended up in Paris a good week before Christmas, and what had happened there. How she had then fled to the Netherlands. How he had found her and Mischka, almost literally in the gutter. How he had then taken them into his home three months ago. And how he then had found out how stunningly beautiful and lovely she was.
When he's finished Tom looks at him for a long time, then smiles softly, "I'm proud of you man." He feels himself blush, Tom reaches out over the table, they clasp hands, "Really man, you did good."
That's when the waitress arrives with their food, they both sit back as she puts their dishes on the table before them. She smiles at them, "Selamat makan! Enjoy your meal!" She leaves again and they both dig in. The food is delicious, as always, and they discuss other topics while they eat.
By the time they've finished it's time to go back to work again, so they say goodbye in front of the restaurant, "See you next month Michael."
He raises his eyebrows, "You're not going to Nicky's wedding?"
Tom smirks, "After everything that happened? I don't think so. Are you going?"
He shrugs, "Maybe, to show off Natasha, show Nicky I got the better end of the deal after all."
Tom grins, "Good plan, and she did that to herself." He nods, they hug, and then they part ways again.
***
Ten minutes after saying goodbye to Michael Tom enters the nondescript building he's working at. The small bronze plaque next to the door says it houses a consultancy, and the lower floor actually does, but that is nothing but a front. The floors above it house a department of the MIVD, the military intelligence and security service. For the outside world he's a consultant specializing in foreign trade, but in reality he works as an analyst specializing in counter terrorism.
He had joined the KMA, the Royal Military Academy, after finishing secondary school. That's where he had first met Michael. After graduating they had both served in the army, in the same unit, and so they had ended up doing a tour in Iraq together. After Iraq Michael had decided to leave the army, and so had he, officially. But while Michael had sought, and found, a civilian job, he himself had joined the MIVD.
Once behind the desk at his small third floor office he starts to dig into his usual work again, but he can't really concentrate on it, because something is nagging at the back of his mind.
Paris, five months back,