Dangerous Games

Jimmy glanced out the backdoor to see Marlena running up the path, wiping her face. He opened the door. “You a’right misses?” He called out as she approached the door. While Jimmy might have been old, he was still sharp as a tack and rarely missed a thing that went on around him. The misses rushing home, looking distressed did not escape his attention.
“Yes. I’m fine. Thank you, Jimmy.” She panted, and hurried off to her room.

Jimmy slowly closed the door, from the looks of her red eyes she had been crying, and judging by the sound of her voice, and stopped up nose. She had definitely been crying. He wondered if it had anything to do with last night. He did note that Mr. Black was absent from the house and supposedly at the airfield. He wondered if the two could have had a rendezvous perhaps, and her tears are for or because of Mr. Black. Either way Jimmy didn’t like the fellow pursuing his misses.

Once inside, Marlena locks the door behind her and she begins to undress. As she throws her clothes into a basket, she thinks of John, his lips against hers. His hands touching her, bringing her to life. This was quickly followed by more tears as she stood naked in her bedroom, she could not bear the thought of it being over between them. She couldn’t fight the feeling that they belonged together, whatever the truth might be.

She had to make herself move, she dragged her legs along like they were made of lead making her way into the bathroom. Stefano was due to arrive in two hours, she turned on the water to fill the tub and then added just a little bath oil. Once the tub was half full she climbed in and settled back, letting the water run.

Her eyes were closed as she leaned against the edge, exhaling deeply. She was exhausted, the time she’d spent with John, along with her jaunt deep into and out of the jungle interior of the island, had physically drained her. Along with the emotional loss that she felt by having to just walk away from John as though nothing had ever happened, had left her emotionally drained as well. Once again the tears began to flow, as the devastation of losing what she had just found continued to settle its ugly way into her mind again.

Marlena wrapped her arms tightly around herself and wept, her body shuddering violently, until at last she was spent, barely capable of moving. Somewhere she found the strength to lift herself up from the bathtub, finding her towel and her robe, she shuffled her way into the bedroom. She put on her thick, white, terry cloth robe and rubbed her wet hair with the towel before climbing onto bed. She lay on top of the bedspread, curling herself into a little ball, clutching the damp towel and quickly fell asleep.

Soon she was swept away into her dreams, where anything and everything was possible, and desires could perform their passion play before a willing audience unabated. Marlena’s dreams, of course, were of John and not of her husband, Stefano.




John stood there in that very spot for the longest time, unable to tear himself away, replaying every second, every event over in his head. He knows he shouldn’t love her, it’s against all his training. He knows he shouldn’t love her because he isn’t the right man for her, she needs someone better than he could ever be. He knows he shouldn’t love her, but he does.

When he finally gathered the courage to move his foot the tears came in torrents. John crept back over the rocks and down through the jungle. For the first time he didn’t know what to do, the only thing he was sure of was that he loved her and she loved him, and if Stefano knew it, they would both be dead. He tried to make that his reason for letting go, for walking away from the one thing in his life that felt good.

Battling his way through the undergrowth, he made his way back to the airfield, stumbling in just in time to find the two men waking up from their drunken stupor. “Don’t breath a word about this to anyone, if the boss finds out we’ll all be out of work, or worse.” John said, knowing the two men, employees of Stefano would know exactly what he meant. They both nodded their agreement, and quickly tidied up the control room. They missed the message from the pilot informing them of take off entirely.

John took both the empty bottle and the full bottle of whiskey and disappeared outside, back to his plane. He stowed the unused bottle back in the cargo hatch of the small plane, and tucked the empty one under some boards and a worn out old tarp in the back corner of the hanger. He climbed up into the cockpit and just sat there staring out as dusk slowly began to set in as the sun started to slowly drifted towards the horizon.

His mind was a whirl with all sorts of thoughts. He could become a respectable citizen, find a real job, pay his taxes and live happily ever after with her. He would glad trade his life of intrigue and danger for a humdrum existence that included Marlena. John closed his eyes and pictured her there before him. He recalled the softness of her skin against his, the smell of her hair as he held her close, the taste of her lips against his. His mental imagery so vivid, it made him tremble, as he reached for her in the empty air.

John opened his eyes and jerked his hands back down to his lap, exhaling hard, he tried to steady himself and get a grip on reality. The boss was coming home soon and he needed to be sharp and on his toes, he could not give anything away. Stefano was perceptive and would pick up on something that was askew. As hard as he tried, John could not put her out of his mind. He was positive they had been lovers in the past, and their love still remained despite all Stefano’s best efforts.



After a long nap, Stefano awoke, feeling refreshed. While his jet was well equipped it didn’t contain a shower, but there was a basin, with hot and cold water. He took the opportunity to shave, he would shower as soon as he arrived back home. He returned to the sofa, just as Ingo returned from the cockpit.

“Ah Boss, you’re awake.” Ingo stood at attention, feet apart, hands clasped behind his back awaiting further instructions.

“Yes, how is our progress?” Stefano asked as he rolled down his shirt sleeves and buttoned her cuffs.

“The pilot says we have a good tail wind pushing us, we should arrive on schedule.”

Stefano let out a delighted little chuckle. “Good, excellent.” He reached for his suit jacket draped over the back of a chair and put it back on. He lifted his cuff and looked at his watch. Their ETA was six-fifteen pm, just an hour and fifteen minutes from now. He smiled and took his seat back on the sofa.

“Is there anything I can get for you boss, something to eat, drink?” Ingo asked.

“Yes, espresso.” Stefano said, reaching for a magazine on the coffee table. Leaning back, he began to thumb through it while he waited.

As he leafed through the pages, and stopped on an advertisement for some new Vodka, with a beautiful young blond woman with a glass in her hand. Though she looked nothing like Marlena at all, Stefano’s thoughts inevitably wandered there, a faint, coy smile appeared on his lips.

He could hardly wait to see her. His heart beat faster with just the mere anticipation of it and his smile grew wider. He wanted to see her the moment he arrived, hold her in his arms and tell her just how much he has missed her. Kiss her and tell her that tonight there will be no further hesitation, tonight she belonged to him. Then after he had freshened up, they would all sit down to a pleasant dinner. After dessert he would send the beautiful Marlena upstairs to prepare herself for him, while he and John took into the fresh, salty night air and tied up loose ends.

Then he would be off to an evening of sweet love. Just then Ingo returned with his espresso and placed the cup and saucer on the coffee table in front of him, distracting his thoughts. Stefano grumbling quietly and reached for the cup.