The Cia Doublecross

Firefight in the Wilderness

As the agents disappeared down the trail from our lunch spot in the narrow canyon, Marsha crawled between my legs and leaned back. "Am I supposed to be scared?"

I wrapped my arms around her and kissed the side of her face. "Not when your strong silent boyfriend is holding you tight."

She turned around, pushed me down and kissed me hard. "That is such a corny line. You are getting as bad as I used to be. Maybe the no shit girlfriend needs a no shit boyfriend."

The sun had reached us and I worked on her back.

"If you do that, I'll go to sleep. Don't we have to move again?"

My fingers worked her ass as hard as they could and she complained. "You are trying to disable me?"

"I've never had a girlfriend with a tight body like yours."

"I've never had a boyfriend who makes me come like you do. Are we going to get it on, right here in the open?"

"I'd like nothing better, but pounding you into the dirt doesn't seem like the best idea."

"Let's walk down the trail and talk about going to the park. I was there when I was little and don't remember a thing."

We went down the trail and into the house as inconspicuously as possible. I got on my laptop and quickly had a map of the park. Marsha looked over my shoulder.

"Hmmm," I said, "looks like a lot of places to get lost, especially with our roadster."

She nuzzled my ear and said, "I'm going to be lost in the desert with my new boyfriend. That sounds nice."

"I'm game, but we need serious supplies and a lot of water. Probably do not want to stay in a regular campground."

She pointed at the screen and said, "What if we leave here about 4 am and head down to Julian. There are outdoor stores and groceries."

I decided that indoor sports were required to keep our low profile. Marsha went around picking up our mess and making the place presentable, since we were leaving in the middle of the night. I sipped a beer and wondered how this was going to work out. Did the Chinese military, or whomever they had hired, really want to chase us down in the desert in southern California? Seemed dumb, but my brain was remembering spy story plots in which the good guys suffered a lot by assuming the bad guys were only doing smart things.

Marsha got a beer and folded herself into my arms. "Penny for your thoughts."

"Hmm. Number one, I seem to have a girlfriend who is very loving of a guy who doesn't deserve her."

Marsha pulled my hair and hummed.

"Number two, chasing around with you is great fun. I was thinking we could go to an RV place in Indio and pick up something big and used and just head out."

"Better."

"But buying any RV is a giveaway, and Cooper will reel us back in when he wants."

Marsha bit my ear and whispered, "I don't like the idea of being reeled in by Mark."

I picked her up and moved to the sofa. She arranged us so her behind could push into my crotch and relaxed. Her hand took my hand up under her shirt. My fingers cupped luscious flesh. "We get to nap here?"

The lighted clock said one in the morning. We were still together, and both awake.

I said, "Just on general principles, why don't we get out of here? Maybe find a rest stop on the way to wait for sun?"

"Yes. Hug me for a few minutes more."

I could do more than hug you, I thought. I moved my hand out to the end of her boob and rubbed the tip of it.

"Naughty. No sex right now."

We did the bathroom and collected everything without lights. I even managed to move the roadster with my shoulder and get us going downhill away from the house without starting the engine. The top wasn't up and it was damn cold and very dark. The back way to Julian was full of curves and hills. About four am, we topped a rise and could see its lights in the distance. Part way down the hill toward town, I dropped off the road into a grove of trees and quickly killed the lights and engine.

It was chilly, so I pushed the seat back and Marsha climbed into my lap with a blanket.

We thought we were going to stay alert, but woke with the sun in our eyes. The trees were some farmer's orchard and we were about to be in trouble. In fact, a man and his wife were about twenty yards away walking carefully towards us. Marsha sat up and we waved.

"You kids know where you are?"

"Yes sir, we are trespassing in your orchard. We are very sorry, but we were falling asleep in the night and ducked in here to catch a little shuteye."

The woman said, "Ralph, don't be too hard on them. Better they were in our orchard than wrapped around a tree down the road."

"Well, if they leave carefully and don't tear up things..."

She said to us, to her husband's astonishment, "We go for a sunrise walk in the orchard almost every morning. It's been our life's work for forty years. Why don't you come in and freshen up and have some coffee with us?"

Ralph grunted, turned around, and started back. We climbed out and followed Martha. Marsha held my hand.

The spacious and incredibly clean bathroom was very welcome. In the kitchen, two cups of coffee were ready and a frying pan was out. "How do you like your eggs? These are from our own chickens."

Just as the plates were being served, Ralph appeared and quickly washed up. He looked at us still a little suspiciously. "Darn, Martha, they could be fixing to rob us blind!"

She smiled at her husband and asked, "What is it they are going to take, dear? A scraggly chicken? An ancient pickup? A few apples?"

She turned to us. "I have you figured out. You are from the city, you borrowed that Jeep and you are headed to the park for some time together. Has he asked you to marry him yet?"

Marsha turned and kissed me. "Just two days ago. I haven't even told my folks yet."

Martha laid her hand on Marsha's and pulled mine in too. "That is very sweet. I'm so glad we could help get your day started right. Ralph and I know every inch of Anza-Borrego and if you have a map, we can give you pointers on a few quiet, hidden places."

I went to get the map from the Jeep. When I got back, the older couple had their arms around each other and were telling Marsha a story about how they eloped to the park when they were young and foolish. Martha was saying as I came in, "When we got back, my mother said, 'Well, you've been gone long enough, he's probably knocked you up, so you might as well marry him.' "

She continued, "The funny thing was, I did get pregnant on that trip, but Ralph and my mom were the very best of friends until she passed away ten years ago, bless her."

Marsha looked over their heads at me and smirked.

With one thing and another, and woman bonding, and promises to stick our heads in on the way back, we didn't get to Julian until almost ten. And weren't headed to the park with gear and a large cooler full of food, beer and water, until noon.

Marsha ran her fingers through my hair and said, "Sometimes, fortune smiles on you in strange places."

"We have to do something nice for Martha and Ralph."

"Maybe something for their kitchen," she answered.

Our directions took us south towards Mexico and away from Palm Springs to the north. The road turned to gravel, turned to track, turned to barely visible tire marks and went around a corner into a narrow draw. The spring was where Martha said it would be, and had a generous trickle flowing among the rocks. There were several aged cottonwoods, and out in dry plain before us, yucca and creosote bush and other desert plants.

"I'm going to give the jeep another once over for a beacon. If it is clean, I think the Asians will have a tough time finding us."

An hour later, I hadn't found anything, and Marsha had our little camp set up under a tree. I pumped up the luxury, six inch thick air mattress and spread things out on top. Marsha said, "We are going to make babies on that?"

I got us down on the bed and made threatening motions. "Lady, you got me out here and I may not be able to control myself." I pulled her to me and nibbled at her ear. She rolled on top and flexed her hips into me. "This is nice and bouncy. Good sex in the desert, that's all I've ever wanted!"

She laughed and snuggled. "That story back at my sister's about disappearing sounded so good! Just the two of us against the world, taking the ultimate road trip. Talk about fantasy land."

I rubbed her fine tight behind and asked, "Shall we explore a bit? We need a secret way out if the bad guys find us."

She sat up. "I don't like that kind of talk, but you are right, we should check around."

We circled the camp at a distance of almost a mile and found a high spot with a large rock to take shade under. We were side by side, looking east at hazy waves of desert mountains leading to Arizona. Marsha asked, "Why would they want us?"

"Hard to say. What about hostages to force release of their spy in the gyro group."

"Why not someone senior right there at the office?"

"What if they have some plan to force us to monkey with the files?"

"Possible, but far fetched. As you said before, don't give the bad guys credit for too many smarts."

I kissed her ear and said, "I'm lucky to be on the lam with a brainy woman."

She lay back in my arms. "I'm lucky to have a big tough guy to rely on. Tell me, after we get tired of chasing around in the desert, what then?"

"You are tired of the road trip already? We haven't even had any dope."

"Yes, where do you hide it? A joint would fix me up just fine right now."

"False pretenses. I gave it up a while back. Didn't have the right girl to enjoy it with."

"Sort of amplifies the extremes. I had the best sex of my life, and the worst sex of my life."

"Maybe sometime we can relive the best sex script."

I kissed her and she pulled my hair. "What then."

"You know, this is right out of the Psych 1 textbook. The alpha male is taking on the world, and his mate wants to know who is taking care of her and the babies."

Her arms were around my neck and the kiss was slow and gentle. "Yes, the babies need a home."

"And the alpha male feels trapped."

"He should feel trapped, after what he did to her." Her tongue was dueling with mine.

I whispered in her ear, which seemed dumb out in the middle of the desert, "Now that this affair is stripped down to just us, I want to be trapped. Maybe we should go back and take things from the top. Settle with Cooper. Decide whether we are staying or leaving the company. Decide when to get married..."

Her head was in the crook of my neck and she was crying. I held her and rocked back and forth. Down in the distance, there was a dust trail from a car. With all the tracks through the desert, a vehicle could be going almost anywhere. It was getting closer to the draw where our truck was.

"We've maybe got company."

I put our binoculars on the vehicle. Some kind of SUV. Black. Turned down the false trail I had made away from the draw into a creek bed. Two guys got out and started scouting. The car reversed course. Marsha asked, "Are we staying here?"

"For the moment. I don't want our things ripped off, but I don't want any rough stuff with Chinese either. I'm going to get the gun out of the bottom of the pack, just in case."

She hopped up, staying in the shadow of the rock. I told myself that the fate of tender moments was to be rudely interrupted. There was a flash of sunlight from below and I warned her, "They've got glasses looking all around, stay down."

Instead of continuing up the draw to where our gear was, the SUV, with men back onboard, continued the way it came. They either figured we had made a complete false lead, or it wasn't the Chinese, or they had found us but were appearing to leave to lure us in from wherever we were.

Marsha said, "We are sitting ducks any way you cut it. What about a cheap anonymous motel in Indio?" And calling Cooper?"

"I like your thinking. We are not Special Ops, and we are not taking on hostiles in the open desert without reinforcements."

She knelt behind me in the sand, and bit my head in various places. "This is releasing your tensions?"

"You are very bitable. Have I told you that before?"

"If you have to bite me, better there than some other places."

We were both depressed about breaking camp without ever having slept in it. I spent some time figuring out how to move the first quarter mile after dark without using lights. I would walk the track with a tiny light pointed down and she would follow in the car.

The desert sundown was beautiful and romantic. The roadster was hidden in some bushes near the creek and we pretended to be in school and made out, telling each other stories about when we actually did that with other people.

"I was a terrible tease in high school. Finally decided I was going to do it with the guy I grew up with across the street. Felt sorry for him because he had bad skin and studied hard and wanted to go to MIT. His folks were away one weekend and he asked me over for a study date. We studied for an hour and I realized he had already done all the work and was just helping me with mine. Asked him for a drink to help my concentration. His mom liked gimlets, so he made two for us. The sweet lime juice made the gin go down really smooth. I kissed him. He kissed me back and put his hand in my bra. The kiss was terrific. He made me take more of the drink. Kissed me again and unsnapped my bra. By the time he got to my underwear I was all wet and hot and embarrassed. He had lotion and rubbed me and slipped his fingers into me and kissed me again and I had my first orgasm, right there on the sofa in his family room. I didn't resist at all when he led me upstairs and took his clothes off and the rest of mine. His cock was so big and so hard. I was afraid, but he was kind and loving and made more gimlet, and then he just buried himself in me. I couldn't believe I did that, but he was driving in and out and I screamed at him for more and came again."

"What happened after?"

"I told him he had a magic cock and he used it on almost every girl in the class. Speaking of magic cocks, when did yours get used first. In a girl, I mean..."

"Once a tease always a tease." My hand was under her shirt, working on her nipples. She stuck her tongue in my mouth.

"Tell me."

"My cousin. Three years older. She was a runner, competed for her school. Flat chested and horny as hell. We were at the family lake cottage. She crawled into my bed on the back deck. Said she was cold and put my hands around her and on her tiny tits. Moved one between her legs and told me to rub. Gave me my first french kiss. Got me hard and jacked me off. Made a terrific mess in my sleeping bag and giggled. Took me on a hike the next day and showed me how to fuck a girl standing up."

Marsha's shorts were on the floor and she was riding my cock and whispering dirty things in my ear and telling me she wasn't going out with me any more if I didn't make her come. My hands were still busy under her shirt and she hardly finished saying that when she was shaking and moaning and calling me a nasty crude boy who didn't have any manners.

We kissed and hugged and said grown up sex was better than being scared all the time in high school.

My new girlfriend was a real pro at driving that restored roadster with the big V8. Nursed it out of the sand and found the unsigned road downhill to the north that took us to Indio. Bought a cheap phone at a drugstore. Found a place with a lot of cell signal out by the freeway and called Cooper. He answered on the first ring.

"What?"

We need to talk."

"Why?"

"Not on the phone."

"Throw that thing away and meet me in front of the Marriott in Palm Springs tomorrow at noon. Rent a different car. With cash." He clicked off.

The bed was hard, but the air conditioner and the shower worked. The room was $75, cash in advance, and it looked like everyone was Hispanic. Miss HR impressed the dark eyed girl across the counter by speaking good Spanish to her. It was nice to get the desert washed off and we lay in the dark, wondering if the bad guys were still tailing us, and fell asleep.

I let Marsha off a block away from a rent-a-wreck place, with her long dress on. She had my big roll of bills in her pocket and a story about having to visit her sick mother in Temecula, and no, her religion didn't allow credit cards.

In ten minutes, she passed me going the other way in a Buick that was bruised and tired. We found a public parking garage and left the roadster there, reluctantly. Hoping joy riding teenagers didn't come by.

Marsha was back to shorts and tee and big dark glasses and floppy hat when we caught sight of Cooper strolling out of the Marriott lobby right at noon. He took one look at us and slid into the back seat.

"They found you out in the desert, didn't they?"

"Yes. What's the deal?"

"My chain of command is pissed. There is serious military intel shit going on."

We waited for more. Silence.

Finally, he said softly, "Our generals don't like their generals that don't keep promises."

"I thought there wasn't any honor among thieves?"

"Yeah. Right. Anyway, you need to stay clear for a while longer. The CEO called your manager and told him you were at the home office on a special Board of Directors assignment that was not to be revealed to anyone."

"Why are they tailing us?"

"I don't know and I'm not shitting you. By the way, you impressed the hell out of my guys out in the canyon. Didn't freak out, fed them and made friends with the dog."

"Marsha has good instincts. Says she will marry me. Don't know why."

"You are one lucky bastard. Take care of her."

"I'm doing my best. What next?"

"How would you like to take a ride on an agency plane to Idaho?"

She grabbed my hand and squeezed, hard.

"Any special reason for Idaho?"

"You are pretty damn good at this getting lost business, and there's lots of open territory up there. You could find a horse ranch or something."

"We'll need a car with no tracks on it. When do we get to come back?"

He reached in his pocket and handed me a phone. "Keep it charged. Don't call out. I'll check in with you every few days. This project is so high up the ladder, I can't answer your question. But I'd be surprised if our patience lasted more than another two weeks. You didn't hear me say this but my boss says the White House is involved."

He climbed out, saying he liked our wheels and would be in touch about the transportation.

We drove away with Marsha flipping her hair at me and saying, "Trying your best, are you?"

"You have a way of growing on a guy."

"Don't get mushy on me. This is not Shane, it is True Grit, and you haven't taken care of the outlaws yet."

"Just call me John. I better get that gun out and practice. Remind me to show it to the guys that fly us away. I think they are not big on concealed weapons."

"Just when I'm beginning to have a good time with you, reality sets in. Where next?"

"We need to get the roadster back to your sister. I love that machine and don't want it wrecked because of us."

She smiled and giggled at me. "I have a funny idea. Claire's nephew is a complete nut about cars. What if we pay to have him come out here on the train and take the car back some devious route."

"Does he have a girlfriend?"

"She is a ravishing blond and a jock. Don't get any ideas. Andy is black belt."

"Find a public phone and call Claire."

While she was talking to Claire, the phone Mark gave me chirped. "Day after tomorrow, 6 am, Ontario airport general aviation terminal, you are Mr. and Mrs. Jones. Talk to you again soon."

Cooper didn't waste words. Marsha had a smile as she returned. "Tomorrow at 10 am. She thinks it is a terrific idea. David and Sally."

"Cooper called, we are out of here day after tomorrow. From Ontario airport."