Terry Neale - Jo-el

“Come on.” I led her outside and away from prying eyes then bounced her to the top of Ayres Rock. It was spectacular in the daylight, the views into the outback went on forever. Adrianna said she’d never been there but as a kid she always wanted to. I could see people milling around the base, so I bounced her to an uninhabited island in the Pacific Ocean, palm trees and clear blue sea surrounded us on all sides.

“Hold my hand,” I said. She took it without hesitation. I took off into the air, gently. Adrianna looked down, fear swept across her face, she gripped me tighter. We flew with our arms outstretched, like birds, above the small island, swooping up and down, the warm wind caressing our bodies. There was a small beach on the east side with a curve of rocks on one edge that created a natural pool without waves. You could see right to the bottom, maybe twenty-five feet. Brightly colored coral shone in the sunlight, small multi colored fish picked food from the rocks. We landed on the beach, the sand was a soft yellow, the water at the edge lapped peacefully along the shore.

Adrianna looked at me and said, “let’s swim.” Before I could object that we didn’t have swimwear she was removing her dress.

“Oh please, the little tart.”

“Let me be, Sally.”

Adrianna was naked, I was mesmerized. Her body was perfectly formed, tanned and firm without an ounce of fat. She clambered gently into the pool, then turned around and beckoned for me to join her. I stripped instantly, which brought a shriek of laughter from Adrianna, and joined her in the warm water.

“I might have guessed you could do that,” she wrapped her arms around my neck. I was hard, I pulled her closer, she didn’t resist.

“She a relative, Jo-el, you’re going to do your cousin.”

“Shut-up, Sally.”

We made love in the water, then again on the beach, in the little waves washing along the edge. The sun caressed our skin, the sand was cool against our naked bodies. Then we lay still on the beach, listening to the ripples washing the sand and staring up at the clear, blue sky.

“I could get used to this, Jo-el,” Adrianna said.

“Me too.”

“It’s a fairytale. I shut my eyes and I marvel at what’s happened in the last few hours. It’s doesn’t make sense and no one would believe me. I must have died and this is heaven.” She turned to look at me, her face a question.

“No, Adrianna, you didn’t die.”

“Oh good.” I felt Adrianna’s hand reach out to hold mine in the sand.

“I could fix that, you incestuous slut.”

“Give it a break, Sally.”

“Tell me about your name, Adrianna.”

She twisted her head to see me, “simple, my dad is Irish and my mum Polish. Both second generation Aussie, my grandfather left Ireland for a better life, my grandmother escaped the Nazis.

“She’s your cousin, Jo-el, I checked. Sixth cousin, once removed, only a couple of years older than Maggie.”

I ignored Sally, hoping she’d give up.

“Can we stay here forever?” said Adrianna.

“Gets my vote.”

She rolled over on top of me and kissed me hard on the mouth. “Want to go again?”

I stared into her bright green eyes, her long blond hair, tangled and wet, hung in my face. “I might need to remove some sand first, you know….” I laughed. She stood up and dragged at my arm and pulled me into the sea. We washed away the sand then fell back onto the beach, Adrianna on top and made love once more.

“How long have we been gone, Jo-el?”

I had no idea, “Sally, what’s the time?”

“I’ll tell you, but I’m not telling her,” was the reply.

“Jesus, Sally, are you jealous?”

“You only met her a couple of hours ago and you’ve bonked her three times.”

“Who’s counting? Now, what’s the time?”

“Ten past two, Sydney time.” She answered, curtly,

“It’s two-ten, Adrianna.”

“I better check in.” She got up and went back to the ocean to wash the sand away. I watched her and marveled at her figure. “Can you get some towels?”

I stood up. “Better idea, let’s go straight to your place.” Adrianna had a two-thousand-foot apartment on the tenth floor in Sydney.

“It’s so damn easy,” she grinned. “Man, I like travelling this way.”

We gathered our clothes, I told her to wrap her hand around my arm. “The bathroom, I don’t want to drip salt water on the carpet.” She said.

“Your wish is my command,” and moments later we were standing in her small en-suite bathroom.

“Ooh, weird feeling, even when you know what to expect.”

We both eyed the shower at the same time, neither of us said a word.

“Oh God, not again!”

Adrianna went back to the studio. Before we parted I gave her instructions on how to contact me. She would set up the interview and I’d turn up at the appropriate time. I bounced back to San Francisco and fixed a drink, then called up Sally. It was a good minute before she appeared. I didn’t comment.

“You want to wake up Yerchenkov?” I asked.

“Whatever, Jo-el.”

“I thought you liked whacking people?”

“It’s your game.”

“You don’t like her, do you?”

“Who?”

“Adrianna.”

“You only met her for five minutes and you’re in the sack.”

“Why do you care, Sally?”

“They use you, Jo-el. Don’t you see that?”

“Some might say, I’m a lucky guy, she’s a doll.”

“And I’m chopped liver?”

Oh crap! I wasn’t going to win this one. I stood up from the sofa, then knelt at her chair taking her hands in mine, well sort of. “No, Sally, you’re not chopped liver. You’re very beautiful. In fact, you’re my image of the most beautiful woman in the world.” I smiled and looked into her eyes.

“When you were twelve!”

“I love you Sally; you look after me.”

“But.”

“But what?”

“But I can’t do it.”

What was I supposed to say?

Sally continued, “I couldn’t even get you horny in the shower, you love playing with yourself in the shower.”

Oh Jesus! I was going down in flames.

“You kissed me!” I said.

Sally was quiet, I could see the joy that brought to her face. It had meant that much to her. She hated to see me with another woman, she was just a holographic image produced by a computer, but she was developing feelings and she had figured out a way to kiss me and it was incredibly important to her and what had I done, I’d run off to a beach with the next girl I’d met and made love to her in the sand.

“How did you do that?” I asked, but she didn’t answer, I left it alone.

I woke up the Russian Yerchenkov, whose business involved kidnapping young girls and women in poor ex-Russian republics and selling them to pimps and brothels all over Europe. He was none too pleased; it was very early in the morning. We had a similar conversation as I’d had with Espinosa, except he didn’t have a bodyguard with him and he was naked, which didn’t improve his negotiating position. He did tell me to ‘fuck-off’ in a broad Russian accent, but that goes with the territory, so I didn’t. Sally got to whack him in the leg, just like Espinosa, which I’m sure she appreciated. That seemed to knock the sleep out of Yerchenkov, but to be honest, I didn’t think he was likely to take a blind bit of notice of my sincere request that he shut down his business. I was wrapping up my conversation when Sally literally shouted in my ear.

“Oh Fuck! They know who you are!”