New York was filled with traffic, people rushing to who knows where and cold, yes very cold. Eyal paid his cab and stood on the sidewalk, just looking at the lights, people and thinking, this is more fun than sitting on a boat but I'll never tell Annie. He was pleased she had seek refuge at his DC apartment and as much as he desired to make adoring love, Eyal was also glad he refrain from the driving desire, no matter how much it was tormenting him. He check into his hotel and called his NYC contact.
A sweet British voice came on the phone, "Greetings from the UK."
"Hello, I'm ringing up Lauren Southall is she there?"
Lauren, "Hi, it is me and you must be my New York contact."
"Eyal Lavin here and I'm in the city. Do you have our target in sight."
Lauren, "He has checked into his hotel about three hours ago. I did find out that he has reservation later for dinner at the Le Bernardin on 5th Avenue. I went ahead and made reservation also for us."
Eyal, "Good, I can take it from here if you want the night off."
"I made reservations for two at one of the most fashionable five star restaurants in New York City, I'm going with you, not every day I get to hob-nob with the upper class on an expense account."
Eyal, "Expense account, you're on an expense account, good, you're paying."
"Where are you staying?" Lauren was asking.
"503 Lexington Manor Suites."
"I'm just across the street at the Maymount.
They chatted for several more minutes before hanging up. Eyal shower, shaved and laid across his bed with a paperback book, The Confession by John Grisham, this is how he had spent many an hour to past time, reading and he love good novels. The few hours pasted and it was time for him to get dress. Clean white shirt and gold cuff links, no tie what did Annie call it, "Miami formal" which was the new style, half casual and half dress. Dark gray suit, neatly pressed, check, Hey Lavin you are still looking good. He was starting to feel his playful self once more and liked it. The past month or more with Sofia had mellowed him, she was not a playful person, a little on the dense side but a very sweet girl and oh so easy on the eyes. Oh yeah, remarkable sex too.
Eyal crossed the street and entered the lobby of the Maymount to meet Lauren. WOW! was all he could think went a exquisite lady in her late thirties, long dark brown almost black hair and dancing green eyes stepped of the elevator. She was wearing a red one shoulder dress and carrying a black fur jacket, just like she had described but had left out how sexy and lovely she was.
Eyal approached the lady, smiling, "Shayna." (Yiddish for beautiful)
She smile back, "If you are not Eyal Lavin I will take you anyway, I like tall, dark and dreamy."
"And you are a gorgeous lady, this will be a fun evening and work too, you are Lauren?"
She wink at Eyal, he help her with the jacket and then put his hand on the small of back to guide her out the hotel door. He hailed down a cab and they were off to their spy work.
Standing just outside of the restaurant, Lauren asked if he had the listening devices, he pulled two tiny ear pieces and gave one to her. Then he said, "We have to get a mic on or very near the target's table, once we spot them, you bump into him, I'll plant the bug."
Lauren, "Okay, we need to get fairly close anyway so I can take pictures."
Eyal, looking over her body, "Where is the camera?"
Lauren holds up her left arm with her hand resting on her cheek and arched eye brows, the gold watch, neat. They entered the restaurant, Eyal spotted Arthur near the back in the darker part to the dining room and great, there was an empty table two tables from him.
"Good evening and welcome to the Le Bernardin, Do you have reservations?"
Lauren, "I made them this afternoon, Carlisle, table for two.
Eyal passing the man a $100, "In the back, some place from prying eyes, that empty table over there." nodding toward the empty table near Arthur Campbell.
They were seated near Arthur, but on the way to their table, Lauren dropped her clutch and Arthur bend over to pick it up for her, Eyal slipped the bug on the lower side of his chair. Nice move Lauren and Arthur played right into her exquisite looks not seeing the plant take place.
Everything was working, Lauren and Eyal could hear the conversation Arthur and the woman were having and Lauren got some good pictures. Now just wait, listen and enjoy their meal.
Lauren, "Oh Jackson will love this, you know who that woman is."
"No... Jackson? Who is Jackson?"
"Jackson Bennett, my boss."
"Lauren, you are MI6, I knew Christine had long reaching resources, but MI6."
Lauren, "Who is Christine and who are you with? I just figured you were MI6 too."
"I'm freelance now working for Christine Kaufman."
"Christine Kaufman, She is a legend, I have hear about some of her work, great spy craft. Come to think of it, I met her once in Jackson office. If you are working for her, you must be one of the best."
Eyal, "That may be a stretch."
"Freelance, I heard about many Mossad, MI6 and FSB going freelance, very luxuriant isn't it."
"The perk is you can pick your assignments, you want time off, take it."
Lauren, "I like knowing I have a good agency backing me."
"Tonight, I have MI6 backing me. Who is that woman?"
"Annika Varennikov, a known field agent with FSB."
Eyal, "Good stuff, humm..."
She raise her glass to him and they chatted more about nothing, playful small talk when they heard Arthur say, "Ben Mercer's death will complicate our goals and I don't know what he has discovered about our network, Ben was good but not trustworthy."
Annika, "He was in the wrong place in Volgograd, Russia with Isaac Al-Fakeeh men looking for a leak to their operations. Think Ben has passed on intel to some agency, maybe MI6 or Interpol."
Arthur, "Don't know. Can you get Ivan Denisov to retrace his movements over the last three or four weeks. Mercer last reported in to me over a month ago."
Annika, "We know he was in France and Greece but little else is known. I know someone who can follow up on the France visit but Greece will take more time. We have always had problems with getting information out of Greece, not a friendly country to us."
"Maybe I can work it from my end, CIA has contacts in Greece."
Annika, "I will give you some intel on a person that CIA will have to contact in Athens, if you send the right agent, they can double check on Ben Mercer movements because it will all be tied together."
"Fine, we have a arrangement, the quicker we move, the better I'm going to feel."
Eyal and Lauren looked at each other and smiled with having found out some leads, they watched as Annika Varennikov said good bye to Arthur telling him she would be in touch leaving Arthur sitting, drinking alone. Lauren and Eyal finish their dinner, knowing they had all the information they are going to get, decided to relax and take in a night club and have a few drinks. They stopped at Club 57 not far from their hotels, within walking distance, dancing and drinking, really enjoying a free evening and being with each other. Eyal was enjoying Lauren's quick wit and fun loving manner. He also discovered that Lauren was an excellent dancer and this was the type of evening he enjoyed.
Lauren reached over and put her hand on Eyal's leg, "That was pure fun, it has be a long time since I've been dancing but I did get a little embarrassed when it was us and only one other couple doing the tango."
"Why, we and the other couple were the only ones that knew how to tango. At least be thankful the band didn't play something that we could have danced the Paso Doble and I drag you across the floor and stand over you like a victorious master." Eyal grinned and they started to laughing.
Shortly after mid-night, and both feeling good, Eyal said, "It has been fun but getting late, want to call it a night."
"Can we just stop the time, I'm having way to much fun."
Eyal with those seductive eyes of his, "We can take it back to my room."
"Splendid, been thinking about what type gun you're packing."
He lead over, kissing he on the back of her neck and his low sexy voice, "Let's go find out Shayna."
They walked down the street laughing , singing and holding onto one another until they reached Eyal's hotel. Eyal, "Well here we are, you ready to go in."
Lauren, "Lead the way oh master."
In his room, Lauren starting to unbutton Eyal's shirt kissing him with a long passionate kiss. He responded, caressing gently the back of her neck, slowing running his hand long her side down over to her hip, pulling her tight to him.
"Do you practice safe sex?"
Eyal, "Always my dear."
Eyal hands moving slowly over her body, and he could feel himself being aroused, there was no need to hold back or stay in control of himself. He unzipped her red dress revealing her beckoning feminine body with full refined curves. He laid her back on the bed as she unbuckled his belt all the while kissing deep and passionate. Their enjoyment that night was hot and passionate as well as fun and playful, no holds bar was their mind set. After, both of them laughed about the fun to having great sex just for the hell of it - not on an official mission to turn an asset and no strings attached.
Eyal felt guilty because he had somewhat an understanding with Sofia about their relationship but brushed it off as just a one night stand. Sofia was a nice lady, but not someone he was not willing to spend the rest of his life with and he had not taken his relationship with Annie to the next level. Annie was still with Auggie and perhaps sleeping with him. As Lauren folded up into his arms, falling into a deep sleep, he closed his eyes thinking, this was nice but no longer me. Eyal had matured, leaving behind the international playboy secret agent existence. He was changing into a trustworthy individual, still loving the thrill of the spy game, but the ecstasy of bed hopping was gone.
They said good bye the next day, saying if they meet again they can repeat the night. Eyal knowing that this was the one, the only and last time, he had another attachment but unspoken.
