Several hours later, Shelby came back to Parsonage number one, on the other side of the sprawling parking lot from the church building that housed the sanctuary, a daycare and related ministries as well as the corporate offices. The ranch home had a distinctively Southwestern façade on the outside and a rural Midwest look on the inside. As the minister / Marine / spy walked in, she knew that what Ruthie had said was right - she had to tell the truth to Rod and face the consequences.

She unbuttoned her jacket and nudged out the lanyard around her neck that had the same swipe card that she used to navigate the "Mother House" - her and Rod's residence, as well as Ruthie and Peter's about a thousand feet to the east, had their security systems linked up to the church's after an attempted break-in a couple of years ago. Holding the card, she took a deep breath.

"Here goes," said Shelby. She quickly said the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi, then tapped the card. The light on the pad changed from red to green and the strike plate clicked. She walked in, fully expecting an argument with Rod and a huge lecture, if not an argument or even Rod walking out.

What she got was totally unexpected.

Rod had sat on the sofa. As soon as she walked in, Rod ran over to her and gave her a huge kiss - at least as deep as the ones he and his wife shared while making love.

"Rod!" said Shelby. "That's so nice of you, but there's something I have to tell you ..."

"I know all about it, Shelby," said Rod, "and I don't care!"

"Wait," said Shelby, "you know about what happened in Luxembourg City? How do you know?"

Shelby made a point of keeping her contacts secret - so much so that Rod didn't know about them; any more than Shelby knew about most of his contacts.

"Your contact made a point of communicating with me using the secure channels," said Rod. "She said she felt so awful about her attempting to seduce you that she wanted to apologize to me directly, and wanted to smooth the waters as it were. Not only that, she did provide a lot more details about the worm we and the other guys are trying to nail as well, and although she hasn't given up a name yet, the parameters have narrowed it down to about a dozen of our parishioners - eight men and four women. She said she wanted to continue to be a source for both of us, and that what she tried to do had no malice in it."

"And, what did you tell her?" said Shelby. Her voice was shaking.

"I told her there was nothing to forgive," shrugged Rod. "I told her she made a mistake, and as long as she didn't try it again with you or anyone else, she was entitled to a free pass. Besides which, you didn't sleep with her."

"What if I had?" Shelby was starting to feel the weight buckle under her knees.

"You didn't, and even if you had, I would have let it go. Don't forget, a lot of our colleagues in the Corps have gone further and they have had to deal with bigger fish."

"So, you forgive me? I don't even know ..."

"Shel, even if you were bi, and you know you're not, I wouldn't care. You've been faithful to me, our kids, this church and the Corps. You always will be. There's nothing to forgive - period."

Shelby burst into tears. This had turned out completely different from what she expected. It was at this moment that she realized that her and Rod's decision to elope wasn't a rush to judgement - that he had loved her from the start, flaws and all. For her part, she thought to herself, she had loved Rod long before they even met with Lucy's help when she needed some help on a class assignment, and long before her braces came off. More importantly, long before the sparks flew, it was just the promise of him. Now, she at last realized, she was truly loved.

"Shhhhh," said her husband, kissing her again. This was the deepest kiss outside of bed they ever had in their marriage up to this point. Rod had his tongue inside of Shelby's mouth, running it all around inside her mouth, for nearly two minutes. After taking nearly half a minute to catch both their breaths, Shelby returned the favour for ninety seconds.

Rod took his wife's hand and they walked into the den. The gas fireplace was running at full steam, which made the room already hot in summer even hotter, and a thirty dollar bottle of red wine was lying at an angle inside a bucket of ice. Next to it, a prepared four course meal that Rod had spent the last few hours preparing - vichysoisse, caesar salad, prime rib steaks medium well, and lemon meringue pie.

"That will have to wait," said Rod. He pointed to the rug in front of the fireplace. "First, we shag."

"What about our kids? Who's taking care of them?" said Shelby

"Ruthie and Peter," said Rod. "On condition we babysit theirs when they have their next night out at home."

Rod placed his shoulder on Shelby's jacket. He carefully removed it while starting to kiss her again. Following his lead, Shelby unbuttoned Rod's cardigan. This continued one article of clothing at a time. They then took off each other's shoes. Now, only their undergarments remained. All this time, they were kissing each other's lips, earlobes and necklines, over and over again.

Rod nudged the clasp on Shelby's bra and then having unhooked it liberated her breasts. At this point he began drawing her down to the rug. He began to massage her bosoms and took turns kissing and sucking on one peak then the other. Shelby moaned in pleasure. As he continued pleasuring her, she reached down and pulled off his undershirt. Once he had done kissing her breasts, she returned the favour on his chest.

Shelby now took the lead. She turned Rod over, and pulled off his boxers. His manhood sprung up. Shelby bent down on her knees and licked it over and over on all sides. After two minutes of this, she then took the shaft inside her mouth and sucked on it up and down, again for another two minutes.

Rod was grunting with pleasure, having a hard time holding it back for the Main Event. Finally, he signalled that he wanted to do the next step. Shelby obliged and parted her legs slightly. Rod ran two fingers down the hairy triangle in the front. After rubbing them against the peak next to her heaven's gate, he bent down where his fingers were. He spent the next two minutes licking the peak while running his fingers through the gate. Then another two minutes of the other way.

Shelby was having a wonderful time of it. She had long agreed to going to the mouth with her husband. Her only condition was that he never would take her from behind aiming for Number Two. Doing it like non human mammals did, yes. That, no. She was moaning more and more and more. She then sat up briefly and pinched her husband on the forehead, gently, telling him it was time.

Rod sat up, and grabbed his shaft, rubbing it on the side several times to make sure he and it was ready. He took his wife to the rug fully. She spread her legs wider and he obliged her by slipping himself into her very slowly, pulling in and out a half-inch until she begged for more, then one inch and so on until she started shaking violently. Knowing his moment had come, he grabbed her by her hips while she grabbed her legs around his back tighter than she ever had with him. He then put himself inside of her and thrusted all the way, for nearly two minutes. Finally he made a groan that got louder and louder until finally he climaxed inside of her, about ten seconds after she had exploded.

They rolled over on their sides, they still one human being and sharing endearments until they finally fell asleep in each other's arms.

Both had something in mind however. They knew they couldn't say it inside the house, for it might be bugged by their enemies.

When the alarm went off the next morning at seven thirty am, the couple woke up. They smiled in absolute ecstasy and wanted morning-glory, but they realized they had an eight thirty appointment, counselling a couple on the rocks. They had also forgotten to eat the romantic dinner. So, they rushed upstairs, shared a quickie in the shower while washing each other, then put on a fresh change of clothes. They then put the foot in the microwave and make a plate and a tray for leftovers later - along with the wine.

The doorbell rang. Ruthie and Peter were at the front door, not very happy that the principal ministers had not called them to ask if their kids could stay the night with Ruthie and Peter's kids. But the look in Rod and Shelby's eyes gave it away so they let it drop.

After seeing all their kids off for school, the ministers walked across the sprawling parking lot and headed straight into the vault.

"Rod and I are really worried, guys," said Shelby. "My source really put herself in danger by getting in touch with Rod. It was the right thing to do, but now that everyone in several countries knows who we are, we need your help. The source wants to meet with someone who is not known. One of you guys will have to take the bait."

"I'll do it," said Ruthie. "Don't worry, Petie - remember, we dealt with a couple of murderers and a pedophile. Yes I know, this takes it to another level, but the past gave us some street smarts on top of the ones we already did."

"Be careful, Ruthie," said Peter, kissing his wife. "So guys, where does your source want to meet my wife?"

Rod took a deep breath. "The last place anyone would want to look. In front of the second biggest building on the planet. What was once meant to be a presidential palace of one of the last century's worst madmen, but is now a Parliament of a democracy."

"Bucharest, Romania. Sarah Glass told me about that one. She worked for six months in the mining towns of Transylvania tending to really sick patients for a humanitarian agency. Man, the SOB who ordered its building had an even bigger ego than Louis the Fourteenth who built Versailles," said Ruthie. "Well, at least that country is now one of our allies. I wouldn't have thought of that place, not in a million years."

"Ruthie, your tickets will be at the airport," said Shelby. "Direct flight from here to Frankfurt, then a partner airline the rest of the way. You leave Thursday night, arrive Friday afternoon. After you meet here, and address each other by code phrases - which will be given to you by an undercover Mountie on the first leg -"

"What ... a real Mountie?" asked Ruthie.

"And specialist in terrorism and financial fraud," replied Shelby. "She's headed to Lyon for a two-year tour of duty at Interpol, but is also looking for the same coward as we are. She won't say anything other than hello and an exchange of e-mail addresses. When you meet my contact, you will then go to a hotel for the next three days. She will outline everything she and her brother know up to this point. You will then return home three days later by a different route."

"Shel?"

"Yes?"

"Is it someone I know?"

"Actually ... yes. When you see her in Bucharest, you'll know who it is even before she introduces herself to you."