Edge of Tomorrow (67 page)

“You’re not worried about me and my
mother, are you?” asked Bruno. “He’s my damned
grandfather
! More importantly,
her
father. He wouldn’t harm
us!”

“You know I’m always overly cautious,
Bruno. Why leave anything to chance? Who knows how he will act?
He
is
a very evil old
man!”

“I know that, but family is a big thing with
men like him,” mused Bruno.

“Well,
I’m
not family, and if he agrees to see me, I
want a backup plan. I’m going to have Shadow-4 in the area while
you’re there. If you can, step out onto one of the balconies so we
can get a fix on where in the castle you are. That place has an
antiaircraft .50 caliber in one of the parapets, as well as armed
men here and there with automatic rifles. He’s made sure no one can
approach by helicopter—a visible one, that is,” chuckled
Hatch.

“I’ll see what I can do while I’m there. I
wouldn’t do this at all, but my mother has a bug up her ass about
reconciling with the old bastard!”

“I appreciate this, Bruno. Grandson or not,
you’ll be searched before you’re allowed in there, so I don’t want
to try putting a transmitter on you—even our newest. So you’re on
you own. Except, Coffer in Shadow-4 will be watching.”

“Thanks, Hatch, but I don’t expect any
trouble. If he decides to meet with you at all, it probably won’t
be tomorrow. It’ll either be reunion day, or I’ll get us tossed out
for saying what I really feel about him and what he’s done to my
life!”

“Try and keep cool! But I know how you
feel!”

• • •

Hatch motioned to Syd that he was going out
to the patio to have a cigarette and she followed him. She decided
to have one, too, and they both lit up. She was feeling quite
mellow from the great lunch—and the alcohol she had consumed—and
was tingling with love. She went to Hatch and gave him a sloppy
kiss.

“I love you so much!” she whispered.

“I love you, too!” he replied as he ran his
hand over her firm butt.

They smoked in silence for a moment,
enjoying the birds chirping in the trees, and the sunlight
shimmering through the branches. Hatch was feeling the best he had
felt since the death of Kat. Syd had filled his emptiness, plugged
the hole in his soul. He had known when he first saw her that she
was different. He had taken another two days to realize she was
the
one
! He had decided to
wait as long as he had to to win her love. Even he had been
surprised when it happened so quickly.

He broke the comfortable silence. “We won’t
get a meeting with Tessitore before Tuesday at the earliest—if
ever. So we have the rest of today and tomorrow to do whatever you
would like. Anything special you would like to do?”

“I don’t know, dear. I’m floating on air as
it is! I suppose it would waste what’s left of a beautiful day if I
took you upstairs and made love to you for several hours, wouldn’t
it?” she giggled. “God, I’m acting like a school girl who wants to
lose her virginity!”

“Making love with you is never a waste
of time, darling! It’s my favorite pastime! What I meant was do you
want to see some more of Rome, go to Venice and ride in a gondola
in a canal, or go to Berlin and have
wiener schnitzel
? Things like that.”

“I keep forgetting that time and distance is
so compressed where you’re concerned! It opens vistas I’ve never
even dreamed of. Can you get German food in Austria?” she asked. “I
could watch you take a fencing lesson.”

“Aha! You can’t wait for me to break it off
with Elizabeth, can you?” he laughed.

“I don’t know why! I’m being silly!
Maybe I’ve made her the personification of all the women in your
past and I want to show her that you’re mine! How
immature
of me! Forgive me, Hatch!
I’ve never been in love and engaged before. I don’t know how to
act!” she babbled.

“You’re just being a woman! Look, we both
have sexual histories—those are in the past. Even Elizabeth. Maybe
it will help give you some closure on this subject if we meet with
her and you can watch me tell her our sexual … meetings are over.
Besides, I really need a fencing lesson! What if someone challenges
me to a duel? I don’t want to be rusty!”

“If some one challenges you, first,
just tell them to fuck off. This is not the
18
^th
century. Second, if you
must accept, choose pistols. You can out-shoot anyone.”

“Where is your flair for romance and danger?
You don’t see me as a Don Juan or D’Artagnon? Slashing my way to
glory and defending the honor of my lady?”

“You’re trying to change the subject, aren’t
you? I feel like a shit for bringing up the countess,” moaned Syd.
“I promise to act like an adult from now on! I guess I’m just
jealous of all the women who have known you so much longer than I
have!”

“I’m not in love with any of them—never have
been. I’m marrying you, not any of them. How about we go upstairs
and discuss our dinner plans while I kiss every inch of your
fabulous body?”

“Every
inch?”

“Yes. Some parts more than others,
though.”

“What parts are those?”

“I think we’ll agree on them! If not, you can
make a request.”

• • •

Back in Hatch’s quarters, Syd went to
the armoire that contained a CD player and shuffled through the CDs
there. She selected one and started it playing. It was one with
selections from
Phantom
sung
by Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman. She then treated Hatch to
a slow strip tease to the music as she shed her clothes, singing
along in harmony at times. The next three hours was packed with the
most intense sex Hatch had ever experienced. After his first
climax, she coaxed him to a new erection using her hands, her
mouth, and sexy dialog. Then she mounted him again and resumed the
heated coupling. At the end, he was so sexually spent and sated,
the thought that she had been more aggressive than ever before
never entered his mind. She, of course, had been determined to
erase all other sexual partners from his memory. Her multiple
orgasms—a first for her—had left her completely exhausted and
trembling as she collapsed in his arms at the finish.

They fell asleep that way, her head on his
chest, his arm over her shoulders.

Fuck you, Countess!
was her last thought as she slipped into darkness.

• • •

When Syd awoke at 6:30 P.M., she rolled over
onto her back and stretched. As she recalled the earlier events,
she inspected her body. Her nipples were swollen and sore from
Hatch’s sucking and chewing. She could remember herself yelling,
“Harder! Bite harder!” What had she been thinking of? Her breasts
and inner thighs were chafed red from his beard. Nevertheless, she
smiled as she remembered how she had cajoled him to continue
servicing her long after they would have normally quit. For some
reason, after she had experienced her first orgasm, instead of
being sated as she usually was, she had been lifted to a higher
sexual plane and desired more, as if she had an itch that needed
more scratching.

She felt completely fulfilled now, and except
for her throbbing, aching nipples, was very comfortable and at
ease.

God, I hope he doesn’t think I’ve turned
into a sex maniac! I just couldn’t stop myself! It isn’t like me to
behave like that! It sure was fantastic though!

• • •

Hatch stirred next to her and began to wake
up. He rolled over onto his right side, propped himself up on his
elbow, hand against his right cheek, and peered at Syd.

“Wow!” he said with a crooked grin.

She turned her head toward him, and
with a weak smile replied, “‘Wow’ is right!
Professor
Steppe has left the building! Hatch, I
…”

“Don’t say a word! I just hope you enjoyed it
as much as I did, but I don’t think I’m up to a return match right
now!”

“Me either! I don’t know what possessed me!
It was just …”

“My God, don’t apologize! You can do me that
way everyday, if you want! What’s wrong with your nipples? Did I do
that?”

“Don’t feel bad! I asked for it, remember?”
she laughed as she put her hands under her breasts and lifted them
gently to inspect them again.

“I still shouldn’t have been that rough!”

“I enjoyed it at the time, but they’re sore
as hell now,” she giggled. “My scabbard is pretty used up, too! We
had quite a romp!”

“More like an orgy for two! Why don’t I
treat my fabulous lover to a nice meal in Vienna? We’ll do some
singing, some dancing. I know a great place not far from the
Bermuda Triangle—over on
Baeckerstrasse
. They even let me play the piano
there.”

Syd looked at the bedside clock and said,
“It’s already 6:30. Isn’t it too late?” she queried.

“I don’t think so. They’re in the same
time zone, so it’s 6:30 there, too. I figure an hour for us to
shower, dress, and take the chopper to the airport. It’s about 475
miles from Rome to Vienna, so say no more than an hour and 10
minutes in the GS-V, including takeoff and landing. We grab a taxi
into town—the Wien-Schwechat Airport is about 12 miles from
downtown—and we’ll be at the
Strausshaus
around nine o’clock. The place
doesn’t start jumping until eleven o’clock, so we’ll have time to
eat a nice dinner,” he explained, “before we start
partying!”

She sat up and swung her long legs over the
side of the bed.

“What’s the dress code?” she asked.

“Casual to the nth. You can wear your jeans
if you like.”

“Good! I wasn’t looking forward to pantyhose,
and I’ll never get my boobs into a bra tonight!” she laughed in
reply. “I can wear a loose-fitting tee shirt, but my headlights
will definitely be on high beam! You should enjoy that!”

“Everyone will,” he chuckled. “You’ll own the
room!”

• • •

When Syd entered the GS-V, she asked Hatch,
“You had some maintenance underway, didn’t you? It’s all done, I
hope!”

“Yes, it is. Come take a look,” he answered
as they walked past the lounge and toward the rear of the
aircraft.

Janet greeted them as they continued toward
the rear. The interior of the aircraft had been remodeled, and the
aft section was now blocked off by a wall with a door in it. Hatch
opened the door and motioned for Syd to enter.

She gasped, “Wow! A private bedroom! It’s
simply fantastic!”

There was a bed on one wall and a small table
with two seats along the other. The bed was just big enough for two
people if they did not mind being very cozy. It was the perfect
place for an airborne tryst.

“You said you needed a private, comfortable
place for …”

He stopped speaking when Janet approached
them and told them the pilots were going to start the engines. Syd
bounced on the bed, took one last look around the “love nest,” then
she and Hatch made their way back to the lounge area and took seats
and buckled up.

Syd mused in a whisper, “Too bad I didn’t
know about the new bedroom. We could have saved something so we
could christen it!”

He whispered back, “The night is young!”

• • •

After they cleared customs, and Hatch had
exchanged some dollars for some schillings, they hailed a cab, and
Syd asked Hatch, “By the way, who are you here? Are you still a
German aristocrat? Or a Nepalese salesman? Or what?”

“It’s a mixed bag, actually. I’ve been
going to
Strausshaus
, and
other places in Austria, since my Bob Hatcher days. I used a German
alias usually, so at
Strausshaus
I am known as Hans von Hüber, or as the old-timers call me,
the Baron. I chose that name at random, but Hans means Johnny, and
Hüber derives from ‘Lord of a feudal castle.’ Elizabeth knew me by
that name in the old days, but she knew it was an alias because of
my dealings with her husband. I didn’t tell her who I really was
until later, about 1987. That’s when I started a regular sexual
thing with her. My fencing
maestro
now knows that I am Van Lincoln, but he still calls me Hans,
because all of his students think I am Baron von Hüber. It gives
the school some prestige to have a Baron taking instruction
there.”

As Syd climbed into the taxi and scooted over
to make room for Hatch, she remarked, “How do you remember who you
are? Do you ever screw up?”

“I’ve had years of practice, dear,” he
laughed as he got in and closed the door.

• • •

The
Strausshaus
was in an old brick building that
had somehow escaped the destruction of World War II. The business
had been there since 1917, and had been passed down from one family
member to another, so it had been operated by a Zimmerman for 84
years. The current owner and operator was 60-year-old Kurt
Zimmerman, and he had known Hatch—Hans—since 1982. He thought, of
course, that Hatch was a German aristocrat who enjoyed rubbing
elbows with the
hoi
polloi
. Hans von Hüber had picked up many women
here and taken them to his hotel. Zimmerman twisted the end of his
long, gray mustache as he saw the Baron enter his pub with a tall,
gorgeous woman on his arm. He noticed she was dressed in blue denim
jeans, a denim jacket, and a light blue cotton tee shirt. He also
noticed that her nipples were prominent against her shirt as her
breasts jiggled nicely. She was obviously braless.