note:
this is a continuation of the story told in the
Tribulations of a Spy
series. That series is not necessary reading and very few characters carry over, though it might provide some additional context to the actions of the characters here. Enjoy...
Sani was glad to finally be let go by her three American captors. She was dropped right where she was taken from. When she was able to get hold of her superiors, she was surprised to see how nonchalantly everyone had reacted.
At first, she was afraid that she would be interrogated about being a potential double agent. Instead, what had happened to her was just something alarmingly weird, at least to her. She was just caught up in between the two agencies' "banter."
The Agency and her captors were neither allies nor enemies. She was told that it was just a "friendly rivalry." Because she wasn't a major part of her mission, her going missing was just a mild annoyance, something each institution caused to the other.
Sani was pissed at this. She had given up and gone through a lot, and for what? To be forgotten when in peril? When she made her discontent known to her superiors, they had just laughed her off, asking her to think of it as a hazing ritual, since there was nothing that she could give to them that they hadn't already known.
But they did take something from her. Something Sani couldn't quite put a finger on. Something that would nonetheless wake her in the middle of the night, covered in a cold sweat. It was hard for her to get the image of Cathy out of her head, so instead, she tried to forget about her by fucking every man she could at the base. It was in vain.
And then, she was selected for her next mission. She had a more important part to play this time, so she was reassured that she wouldn't be the mild annoyance this time. She wasn't the biggest cog in this machine, but she was a significant one.
The Agency could obviously hack into the system through various means, but, given the RPY's amazing defences, that would leave their own systems vulnerable to their actual enemies. Not the mild annoyance kind. She wasn't given any more specifics, because that was how the Agency had pulled off things it had no right to pull off as secretly. Barely anyone knew the big picture.
If Sani had to guess, given that her mission was in the Middle East, the Agency was probably planning on toppling a South American government.
In Abu Dhabi, sat in a restaurant with her handler, Diya. Diya was another South Asian brunette who, just like Sani, could easily blend in with the local women. She was only slightly younger than Sani, but wasn't half as trained. Sani knew this meant that she wasn't fucked as part of the training, though Sani did find out that Diya was more promiscuous than her before either had joined the Agency. The two got along pretty well.
From their table, they had their eyes on their target. Both of them, in fact. The software engineer, Iqbal, was out on a date with his wife, Fatima. Well, it was a date if dates involved the woman being talked down to the entire time.
The hijab-clad woman, at least ten years younger than her husband, barely made eye contact as she was being spoken to. The man was venting his frustrations when he got a call and had to leave. Sani had thought that she would just watch the targets for a while but now was a great opening.
Diya looked at the woman eating her dinner alone with pity, got up and left to keep an eye on the engineer, as ordered. Sani picked up her drink and got up as well. They two agents feigned a goodbye hug, and Sani walked towards the lone wife.
The shy woman was hesitant to let Sani, a woman not wearing a hijab or burqa, join her. She would later explain that her husband would be angry at her if he saw them together. Once persuaded, Sani started making small talk. She told Fatima that she was visiting the city and was out with a friend from her school days and that she had to leave, that something urgent had come up.
Fatima was amused by the coincidence. Her husband had to leave, too. Something urgent had come up at work, despite it being late evening on a Friday. He was probably not going to come back until the next morning. When asked, she told Sani that she was married to a man 11 years older to her. Their parents had known each other. Fatima was 20 and had been married for two years.
Sani had noticed that whenever love and husband were mentioned together, Fatima would quickly change the topic. When talking about things like music and movies, there was a smile on Fatima's face that reminded Sani of her days before the Agency.
In the middle of their long conversations about Bollywood movies, they were reminded by a waiter that it was nearing closing time. Sani mentioned in passing that she was supposed to stay with her friend who was not responding to her messages and that she might have to look for a hotel.
Fatima was kind enough to offer her to stay the night at her place. Sani feigned reluctance but was surprised at how well her impromptu plan was going. She was glad that she had enough equipment with her in her handbag.
Neither had their cars, so they hailed a taxi. In the back of the cab, the two women were giggling throughout the ride, and if Fatima was any less naΓ―ve, she would have seen how hard Sani was flirting with her. In Sani's defence, flirting with men always worked, so she assumed that flirting with a conservative woman would be seen as flattery and they might put their guard down. It worked.
Sani had assumed that Fatima's apartment would be much bigger than it actually was. It wasn't small, it had three bedrooms and was excellently furnished. She had just overestimated how important the target she was assigned would be.
There was no alcohol in the house, so Sani would need to drug Fatima to be less inhibited. She wanted to get as much out of the wife before she confronted the husband. When Fatima was in the kitchen making them tea, Sani checked with Diya for an update. Iqbal was still at work, and based on what Fatima had said, he would be there until the morning. It was enough time for Sani to figure something out.
When Fatima returned with tea, Sani started talking about romance. She made up a story about a boyfriend who would make the grandest of gestures and was the sweetest man. She had just merged all the heroes from the Bollywood movies Fatima enjoyed. Upon hearing this, Fatima had a vacant smile on her face. Sani knew it was time to prod.
Sani placed a hand on Fatima's knee and asked her if her husband loved her. Fatima was confused at first, then was persistent in telling Sani that her husband, in fact, did love her. Sani kept prodding and finally Fatima relented.
Her husband used her only to take off his frustrations. He would either beat her or fuck her. She longed for romance. If she left, her parents wouldn't accept her. She hadn't been to college or had worked at all, so she won't be able to find a job. And that in his beatings, he had said things to her that she shouldn't know, so he would ensure her silence by staying married.
Sani was shocked. Not at the domestic abuse part, she had done the research. Shocked at how much a person can open up without intoxicant if given a supportive ear.
Sani asked her what kind of things was she not supposed to know. Fatima tried dodging the questions, but then finally admitted, crying, that she was afraid her husband might kill her if she said anything to anyone.
Well, a supportive ear can only go so far. Sani had made a plan to extract certain information from the wife, but now she was sure that she would gain a lot more. Sani offered to guide Fatima to the washroom to wash her face. Fatima didn't want Sani to bother and asked her to stay seated.
Fatima returned to Sani standing up by the couch. She had managed to plant a camera just in time. Fatima was about to say something, but Sani walked up to her and planted a kiss on the thin, quivering lips.
Fatima wanted to resist, but Sani made sure to maintain contact as long as she could. Fatima finally managed to pull away from the tight embrace and shock took over her innocent face.
"I am not like that," said Fatima.
"Well, neither am I, yet here we are," said Sani and leaned in to kiss her again.
"Please, I am not that kind of a woman."
"Then why am I here?"