will officially have happened.'
'I understand.' Troy nodded. 'What about the third mission category?'
'As needs dictate, the 24th is involved in training of United States and Allied pilots, new people who come into the HAWX Program. Y'know, we might even get involved in capturing enemy technology to evaluate.'
'It sounds interesting,' Troy said. 'I'm ready for this kind of thing. When do I start?'
'That's the spirit,' Harris said, giving Troy a fatherly glance. 'Since we're all wrapped up in Malaysia, thanks in no small part to your own celebrated efforts, I'd say that you can start as soon as possible. Shall we say in ten days? That'll give you a week and two weekends to recharge your batteries. See you in the desert, Loensch.'
Chapter 34
'Wish you weren't going out of town again so soon,' Yolanda Rodriguez complained, kicking the sheets from her naked body and sitting up in the bed. 'You and me… like we made some real chemistry last night, huh?'
'I've missed you too, Yo,' Troy said, reaching up and pulling her into his arms.
After accepting Raymond Harris's job offer, Troy had flown back to Southern California for ten days to see his parents and to fill his eyes with a change of scenery. It was only after he had been around for about five days that he phoned Yolanda. The strain of visiting his parents separately and of listening to them complain about each other had driven him to seek another change of scenery, and Yolanda was always easy on the eyes.
She rolled on top of him, kissing him passionately.
He was reminded yet again why he missed Yolanda so much and why he was glad he'd decided to call her.
He almost hadn't.
He hadn't seen her since he had come back from Guatemala, and then only briefly. He wasn't sure how she would react after all this time, but she happily — even excitedly — accepted a dinner suggestion.
Dinner had gone well.
They laughed, joked, and had a great time. He had forgotten how much he enjoyed just staring into her dark eyes and watching the beautiful choreography of her hand gestures as she spoke. He had forgotten how much fun it was to listen to the way she told a joke, and how he enjoyed the sound of her laughter.
After dinner, things went even better.
They made love in the car — Yolanda thrived on the naughtiness of sex in unconventional places. After that, they went to a dance club where she knew the bouncer, danced, had a few drinks, made love in the room where they kept rolls of quarters, and ended the evening at her apartment.
Her breathing grew deeper as she wrapped her legs around him and squeezed him hungrily. Troy had really missed Yolanda.
Though there was no hint of long-term commitment in their relationship, they shared a genuine friendship and a very rambunctious mutual lust.
Exhausted and gasping, the two lovers lay together, holding hands, catching their breath and staring at the ceiling.
'Sure is fun, huh,' she said, looking at him longingly. 'Wish you'd bring your tight little ass back through town more often.'
'My job, y'know. I'm on the road a lot.'
'Yeah, I suppose you're right. Richard would sure be pissed big-time if I started spending a lotta time with you.'
'Who's Richard?' Troy asked. There was no jealousy as there had been with Cassie's dalliance with Enrique, because there was no commitment, no presupposed boundaries with Yolanda. There was just idle curiosity.
'Richard's my boyfriend, my gringo boyfriend,' Yolanda said in a matter-of-fact way. 'He's a big-time banker downtown. He lives over in Bel Air.'
'How'd you meet him?'
'At this big charity party. There's lots of celebrities and stuff. Richard's wife is some kind of queen of the charity party ladies.'
'So Richard is married?'
'Oh yeah, and he's got some kids too, but they go to boarding school somewhere.'
'Is his wife cool with you being… y'know… with Richard?'
'I don't think she knows. He says she's too busy with all her society shit.'
'Is he gonna leave her and marry you?'
'How'd you know?' Yolanda asked sarcastically. 'He said that he wanted to, but I know it's a line of bullshit… he ain't gonna leave her. She'd take all his money, and I sure wouldn't like that. I like things the way they are. He's got money. He buys me nice things. Jewelry and shit. Takes me places.'
'Is he good in bed?' Troy smiled.
'That's none of your fucking business.' She giggled, climbing on him again.
Troy imagined that it really would take several guys to fully satisfy Yolanda's boundless energy and appetite for male companionship. Once again, as often in the past eighteen hours, he did what he could to answer her compelling call.
When they had finished, Troy stood up and suggested a shower.
Yolanda literally leaped at the suggestion, but the deluge of warm water across their bodies only stirred the embers of her passion into flames yet again.
Finally, they were dressed. Troy was tying his shoes as Yolanda, dressed in tight jeans and a skimpy lilac- colored bra, rooted through her drawers looking for a particular top that she wanted to wear.
'Yo, could I ask you a question?' Troy said, his voice in a serious tone.
'Oh baby, don't tell me you're gonna pop the question, cuz I don't want to spoil what we got, babe.'
'No, I wasn't, I mean I don't want to spoil what we got either. That wasn't the question.'
The idea of being married to Yolanda Rodriguez had occurred to him, but only in fleeting moments of passion. To wake up as he had today held great appeal, but the thought of waking up like that every day was merely exhausting.
'I have a hypothetical question,' Troy said. 'I'm looking for your advice, some woman's intuition.'
'Cool,' she said, sitting cross-legged on the bed and looking him in the eyes with the beautiful dark eyes that always sent Troy around the bend. 'Hypothetical? That's like when you make up something that represents something, like testing out some theory that you suppose is true, huh?'
Her perfect breasts looked almost better when framed by the thin, lacy bra than they did on their own.
'Yeah that's right,' Troy said. 'Using you and Richard as an example, what would you think if somebody… like the cops, for instance… came to you and said that Richard was mixed up in some criminal wrongdoing at the bank?'
'I'd ask them, 'What's that got to do with me?''
'And they said it was real serious and they thought he was going to do something really bad that would affect lots of people… people you knew and loved… like your family?'
'Like if he was gonna take all the money and run off to the Bahamas, huh?'
'Yeah, something like that.'
'Is somebody threatening your family, baby?' Yolanda asked. 'If they are, I'll call my cousin, and him and his friends would kick the guy's ass.'
'Nobody's threatening my family,' Troy assured her. 'This is kind of a work thing… so what if the cops asked you to spy on Richard?'
'You mean, be a snitch?'
'Yeah, sort of.'
'No way I'd be a snitch for the cops, man,' Yolanda explained. 'You don't even rat out your enemies to the cops.'
'Even if he was gonna run off to the Bahamas with money that belonged to your family?'
