“Give me anything that would legitimize an alert.”
“You’ll have it as soon as I do. We will agree on a code word. Why don’t we use the word ‘Lexington’ in honor of the Revolutionary War battle?”
“Excellent.”
Donovan smiled. “Now, would you like to know what we think the Russians are up to?”
Chapter Ten
Alicia hadn’t wanted to go to the ladies room with her friend Rosemary Poole any more than she’d wanted to have dinner with her and her date. But they had run into each other while waiting for a table at the crowded restaurant and she had little choice.
Now, instead of a quiet and intimate dinner for two, she and Tom were stuck in an unwelcome foursome. At least it got them a table earlier than other couples who were stuck waiting in line. Rosemary also was a WAC lieutenant who supervised clerks at Camp Washington, and her boyfriend was an overweight and self-important quartermaster captain named Stan. “The army runs on its belly,” he’d said, “and we aim to keep that belly full.” Tom rolled his eyes at that conceit while Alicia stifled a giggle.
Alicia wondered where it was written that women had to be accompanied to the john in the first place. Two guys never went together. They’d get arrested and probably beaten up if they did.
The two women sat alone in front of the mirrors and Rosemary added more lipstick than was necessary. Alicia thought it would soon be smeared all over Rosemary’s and Stan’s faces if not other parts of their bodies. It was a reminder that she should keep her own to a minimum unless they wanted to look like clowns by the end of the evening.
She and Tom had signaled each other that it was time to leave. This evening they would have a modicum of privacy. They would be dog-sitting at Colonel Downing’s place while they went to some retirement function for an over-the-hill major at Fort Meade. The colonel and Missy wouldn’t be home until about midnight. They could stay all night if they wished, although Missy insisted that they would have to be in separate rooms. Alicia wondered how firm that rule was.
Rosemary sighed as she placed her lipstick in her purse. “Is Tom as sex-crazed as Stan?”
The blunt question surprised and amused her. “I don’t know. Just how crazed is Stan?”
“We’ve got to do it every time we go out. If we don’t screw, he wants me to interesting things with my mouth. Ever do that? No, I guess you quiet types never have. As the old saying goes, don’t knock it if you haven’t tried it. At least no one ever got pregnant from doing it.”
“I’ll think about it,” Alicia said. At least she knew that the proper term was fellatio.
“Seriously, Alicia, don’t go prudish on me. I know I’m not the best looking girl in the world. I’m not anywhere near you in the looks department, so I can’t be choosy. If Stan wants it, he’s going to get it. Besides, we could all be dead in a very short time and that especially means all these great guys could be in a grave somewhere. I do not want to become an old woman without having experienced life and love and, yeah, I complain about him, but I do love Stanley. And since I do love him, I don’t mind doing whatever he wants.” She giggled, “Actually, I’ve kinda grown to like it.”
Alicia wondered if Aggie Fanelli had ever thought of that. Probably not, she decided. After all, Alicia hadn’t been certain what fellatio was until she went to college, and that was not the term her friends used. She’d told her roommates that she would never ever do such a thing. They’d asked what if she truly loved the guy, and she did admit to wondering. She laughed to herself thinking how proud her parents would be of the truly liberal education she was getting both in college and as an officer in the army.
So far she and Tom hadn’t gone any farther than some high school type petting. Although very pleasurable, it was frustrating for both of them. Privacy was the problem. They’d even gone to a place where a lot of young couples made out in cars, but they’d been chased off by unsympathetic city cops. What really hurt was when one cop told them they were too old for that crap. Enough, they would go to the Downings’ and dog sit.
An hour later, she and Tom were seated on a couch in the Downing’s finished basement. The old Labrador they were ostensibly sitting was asleep in the colonel’s bedroom, snoring and farting. Alicia lay across his chest and his arms were around her. They’d kissed several times, each with increasing passion, and Alicia called a halt to catch her breath and maybe her control.
Tom kissed her ear. “Do you think we should get married?”
The question did not surprise her. Things happened quickly in wartime when there was no time to spare. She’d been giving a lot of thought to the possibility of spending four or five decades with Tom and liked the idea. She also realized they could be together for a much shorter period of time because of the war. Did she want to be a war widow? No. Did she want to spend the rest of her life wondering at what might have been? No.
“I don’t want to be a war widow,” she said sadly.
“All joking aside, I don’t want that either. But I’d at least like there to be some time for us together, rather than nothing at all. Nothing’s certain in this life. If we waited until the war was over, we might be very old, and then get hit by lightning, and that would be a terrible waste.”
She shifted so they could kiss more comfortably, which they did. She sighed as he unbuttoned the demure collar of her dress and gently slipped his hand down and inside her bra. She’d only recently begun letting him do this, and it was as far as she’d ever gone with a man. She loved the way he caressed her breasts and nipples. She wanted him to go farther, but should they?
Tom slipped his other hand under her dress and above her knee. With girdle, garters, stockings, and panties, she thought he was going to be challenged by a terrible obstacle course, but she decided she’d let him do whatever he wished. Correction, whatever she wished, and right now she wanted him to go a lot farther.
A flash of light played across the basement window. The Downings were home. Shit, she thought as they got up, straightened their clothing and went upstairs. She hoped Tom’s erection would recede before somebody else noticed.
“You’d both be better off staying here tonight,” the colonel said as he threw his cap on the kitchen table. “They closed down the party and MPs are all over the place, checking IDs and generally making a nuisance of themselves. I don’t know if this is some kind of drill or something has happened to stir them up, but it took me an hour to get here. Tomorrow’s Saturday and, Tom, I will want you at the Pentagon first thing in the morning. Alicia, you’ll be better off waiting here as well. Missy can provide you with something to sleep in.”
They both agreed and Missy gave them separate rooms at the end of the hallway. Tom couldn’t help but notice that the colonel and his wife slept at the other end. He wondered what would happen if he made the short trip to Alicia’s bedroom? Would she have the door locked? Damn, that would be disappointing. But would she unlock it for him? He stripped down to his skivvies and slipped under the covers. He didn’t know what to do. Maybe he’d come up with a brilliant idea after thinking about it for a while. More likely he wouldn’t. This was not the type of tactical maneuver they discussed in the army’s advanced training courses for officers.
He caught the slightest hint of sound and motion. The doorknob was turning. He held his breath as the door opened and Alicia slipped in. She was wearing a nightgown that barely came to mid-thigh and was probably Missy’s. The cloth was very thin and he could see the outline of her nipples and pubic hair against it. She smiled tentatively.
“You don’t mind, do you?”
“Of course not,” he managed to whisper.
She slid in beside him and they kissed passionately, then ferociously. In an instant both his skivvies and her nightgown were on the floor and their arms and legs were entwined.